No Oath, No Spell
by ricejames
Summary: Determined to drag Sasuke back, Naruto looks to the future. Picks up after their fight at the Valley of the End. More information inside. Action/Adventure/Romance/Comedy/Awesomeness! (Main characters are probably going to be Naruto, Shikamaru, Tayuya, and the others, I'll decide along the way!)
1. The Worry List

**Well, here we go, my first Naruto fic. I decided to do something challenging, SO I'm gonna do a Naruto and Tayuya fic. They may be romantic, maybe not, I think I'd like to give it a shot considering her character doesn't really have depth in the anime or manga. It's gonna pick up the day Kakashi brought Naruto back from the fight with Sasuke. I used that episode for part of this intro (It's pretty much the episode written out, so feel free to skip to the last couple of paragraphs of this chapter if you know that episode well), but it shifts into my ideas, and will stay that way. Though I may use the storyline of the show as a driving base, following the Akatsuki and what not. Either way, this will have Action, Adventure, Comedy, Romance, and pretty much whatever else. That's enough explaining.**

**Seriously, Skim to the last few paragraphs if you don't want to read that episode, because once It gets past that point at the end of this chapter, this story is original.**

**Italics are thoughts.**

**I don't own Naruto. (Disclaimer)**

* * *

No Oath, No Spell

The young genin's eyes slowly opened as he uttered four simple words, "Kakashi sensei…where's Sasuke?

There was no reply, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of the forest whipping by, and it seemed as though the depressing atmosphere that had befallen them would consume the entirety of the forest itself.

Yet the silence was interrupted by three Leaf Village Medical Ninja, they had begun to talk with Kakashi, but the blond haired ninja only picked up bits and pieces. All he'd managed to hear was that Both Choji and Neji where in really bad shape.

He had one final thought before he passed back out, "_Everyone_…

...

Shikamaru sat impatiently outside of Choji's operating room, his fingers interlocked and fidgeting aimlessly. He was deep in thought, but It was interrupted by a certain troublesome woman, "No point in making yourself crazy you know, don't you remember your psychological training? With every mission comes sacrifice."

He paused for a second, staring straight into her eyes, "Training and reality are two different things, I thought I knew about missions, I thought I knew what it meant to be a shinobi…now after this mission…my first as a squad leader," his voice dropped into a sadder tone, "only one thing is clear…I'm just not cut out to be a shinobi."

"Honestly, all you men with such fragile ego's," It seemed to be her misguided way of trying to cheer him up.

Shikamaru stood, "This mission…I thought all I had to do was…depend on everybody else…some leader…" his voice and face showed he was disgusted with himself, "I should have done more, but I didn't have the strength, It's all my fault."

Her eyes narrowed, "What, are you afraid you might get hurt?"

Instead of replying to the snide comment, he simply placed his hands in his pockets and began to walk away. After only managing to cover a few feet, he was stopped by a voice, it was his father.

"A girl disrespects you like that and you just walk away?"

Shikamaru turned his head over his shoulder as he snapped back, "You bet I do, standing around arguing isn't my thing, that's something girls like to do."

His father gave him a sour look, "And what are you? Not a man, that's for sure, far as I can see, your nothing but a coward."

Shikamaru didn't reply as his father continued and the girl looked on, "You think if you quit, missions will stop? Someone's gotta do it, your comrades will be sent out again, on other missions, with someone else leading them. They'll face the same risks, and some of them might not make it. People you might have saved if you'd been there to lead them. How are you gonna feel then? You've got a chance to reflect on your mistakes, and to learn from them. Use your failures to make yourself a better leader. You won't help your friends by running away, instead, you should be trying to make yourself stronger for their sake, so that the next mission goes perfectly and everyone gets back safe. The choice is simple; you're either a leader or a coward! So…which are you?"

The words cut deep, even the usually stern girl who'd been listening in thought that last statement was harsh, evident by the concerned look on her face. Yet just then, someone emerged from his best friends operating room, it was The Hokage.

"He's gonna be just fine."

At those words, Shikamaru tilted his head towards the ground and began to shake, not really listening as The Hokage went on explaining about the procedure and thanking his father Shikaku for the material he had provided for the procedure.

Another voice rang down from the direction in front of Shikamaru, "Lady Tsunade! Neji Hyuga is safe, his condition has stabilized. There's more, I just received word that Kakashi Hatake and Naruto Uzumaki have returned and they've been examined, Naruto's injuries are serious but not life threatening, he's going to be okay."

The information had seemed to hit Shikamaru hard as the fan wielding Sand ninja looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

Tsunade sighed to herself, "Huh, just two…" She followed it, speaking adamantly, "Shikamaru, your mission was a failure."

He hung his head even deeper.

"However, everyone's alive, that's the most important thing."

The relief he felt from hearing everyone was okay quickly combined with the feelings he was already mulling over, and he couldn't hold it in any longer, his voice cracked through thickly flowing tears, "Next time the mission will go perfectly."

…

A snake like bastard walked slowly with two people at his backside, he grinned wildly, "Sasuke, you are the chosen one."

The stuck up Uchiha spoke back cockily, "Yeah Yeah, whatever."

The last of the three men whispered something into the kid's ear, "You better watch what you say to Lord Orochimaru, he may no lo-"

He was interrupted when Sasuke gave him a look so full of malice that it made Orochimaru elated, the snake thought to himself, "_Yes, he's the one, my future lies in him_!" He licked his lips and walked on ahead.

...

A blond haired ninja sat in a hospital bed while resting his hands on a slashed headband. He was wrapped head to toe in bandages, making him almost unrecognizable. His mind was racing, "_I just don't get it…why Sasuke_?" His mind kept racing through the fight and the promise he had made, a look of depression consuming him as he did so.

He was shaken from his thoughts at the sound of a door opening and a voice, "Well, well, so you're awake, huh?"

The bandaged boy's eyes lit up, "Shikamaru!"

The two had been talking for a few minutes when a pink haired Kunoichi approached the door of the room they sat in. She heard the two talking and decided to eavesdrop.

"I see…well at least everybody's okay…that's good."

"So, so Sasuke's?"

"Yeah…," the blond replied sadly, "he's gone."

That last comment sent a wave of shock through the girl outside, her arm's fell to her side, and she just stood there, too overwhelmed to do anything else.

…...

The silence of the hallway that held the pink haired Kunoichi was interrupted by the voice of the Hokage, "Come for a visit? News travels fast I see."

Tsunade proceeded to open the door to the room before waiting for a reply, and as she looked in, she saw Naruto and Shikamaru sitting on a hospital bed, both looking up in surprise at the interruption.

Naruto noticed the pink haired Kunoichi that accompanied the Hokage immediately, "_S-Sakura_?"

She looked at him with concerned eyes, "Naruto."

He couldn't keep eye contact as his eyes welled up; he fought back the heavy emotions as he hung his head.

The older Kunoichi spoke up with a smile on her face, "I'd heard that your injuries were pretty serious, you seem to be doing well considering."

The room fell silent, a few seconds passed before Naruto said anything, "I'm sorry Sakura."

A look of shock swept over the young girls face, but she quickly replaced it with what was obviously a forced grin, and she spoke through an overly happy tone, "Sorry? What have you got to be sorry about? Let me guess, you got reckless and went off half-cocked again? Look at you now, you look like a mummy."

He just hung his head further, and his voice shifted to an even more somber tone, "I'm…I'm so sorry."

She seemed to be trying to ignore it, "Hey, why do you have the curtains closed, it's a beautiful day outside!" She finished, opening the curtains and looking out the window as she did.

The acting wasn't doing it for him, and Naruto started in again in what seemed to be a plea to prove himself, "I…I haven't given up! I'm still gonna keep my promise! It was the promise of a life time, I meant it!"

She didn't look back, "It's okay Naruto, Really."

Shikamaru cut in, "He Tried Sakura!" Yet before he could get another word out, Naruto spoke up again.

His tone had shifted to a serious one, "If I say I'm gonna do it, then I'm gonna do it, Kay?" He looked up at them with a grin, "Don't forget, my way of the shinobi means I always stand beside what I say!"

Tsunade giggled to herself, while Shikamaru smirked, "Ha."

Naruto had started to lightly laugh as Sakura observed his tattered body, "_Thanks Naruto_."

…...

Everyone had left as Naruto lay back in his hospital bed, "_I've got to focus on healing these wounds if I'm gonna bring Sasuke back_."

Suddenly there was a huge crash outside, causing the blond to shoot up out of bed and open his window, "Huh, pervy sage!"

The pervy old man gave him a grin, "Hey there!"

The old man proceeded to take a seat on the window sill next to Naruto.

Now settled in, he started on the reason he was there, "What I have to tell you is important, it can't wait. From now on, you're my only student, I need to make a full-fledged shinobi out of you in three years, and I'll do it."

"Why three years?"

Jiraiya continued on, "We received some disturbing information regarding the Akatsuki. We've reason to believe they've chosen you as their next target, and we have three or four years before they come after you."

Naruto thought for a moment before speaking, "No way, that's not gonna work!"

Jiraiya gave a simple response, "Hmm?"

"I don't have time for that, do you think I care what might happen three years down the road!?"

Jiraiya looked shocked, "What are you talking about?"

Naruto's eyes looked fierce, "Orochimaru's already got his hands on Sasuke, he needs help right now! That's what I'm talking about! Orochimaru plans on taking his body!"

The old man smirked, "Ha, I see you know all the gruesome details about Orochimaru's little scheme."

"Wait, you mean you knew all about it too?"  
"Of course! Don't you think I've been studying that immortality jutsu of his? That's also how I know our good friend Orochimaru won't be able to reincarnate himself in a new body for three more years. Fortunately he ran out of time and had to take over another body before Sasuke could get to him. That means Sasuke is safe for three years, so you do have time.

Naruto was eager with relief, "Really, are you sure of that Pervy Sage? Are you absolutely sure!?"

Jiraiya gave a quick reply, "Yeah."

Naruto let a sigh of relief escape him, but it was short lived. The next words he heard his teacher speak threw him for a loop.

"Forget Sasuke," his was deadly serious, "You can't help him, so just forget about him. Sasuke went to Orochimaru of his own free will, no matter what you do, he will not change."

Naruto scoffed, his face shifting to show anger.

Jiraiya continued, "I've seen many like him, I know the type. Orochimaru and Sasuke are cut from the same cloth."

Now Naruto was just plain pissed off.

"Don't delude yourself into thinking you can bring him back. You can't, it's hopeless, A fool's Errand!"

The spiky blond snapped back, "Maybe it's easy for you to give up on him Pervy Sage, but I can't! He may mean nothing to you, but he's MY friend!"

"Idiot," the old man shouted, "Just take a look at the condition you're in, and he's the one that did it to you! Was that the work of a friend!?"

The boy's face sank, and he only mustered two words, "No….but…"

The old frog wrangler couldn't help but remember the time when the same exact thing happened to between him and Orochimaru, "_All my pleading meant nothing, he left us, and wouldn't return. After the pain, all I was left with was helplessness…and regret. Above all, I want to save you from going through that Naruto_." His thoughts shifted into words, "If you insist on going after Sasuke, then you'll get no training from me. I'll get the ANBU black op's assigned to guard you, and prevent you from leaving the village."

Naruto was surprised at his words.

"You're not just some ordinary kid, you've got something inside you the Akatsuki wants, the Nine-Tailed Fox, but if you're going to behave like a kid, and not listen to what I tell you, then I'll do what I have to do!

Naruto just listened, surprise still evident in his face.

"Eventually you're going to face enemies far worse than Orochimaru, and it's time you started preparing for them. The first thing is for you to give up on Sasuke. What happened was destined to happen, dismiss him from your mind…and move on. To be a shinobi, you need more than strength and Jutsu. You must acquire the judgment to make the right decisions; you must become smarter…the longer you remain a fool, the harder it will be for you to live in this world."

Naruto took everything his master had said to heart, and his decision was all too easy, "Fine then," his voice was deadly confident, "If being smarter means what you say it does, I'll remain a fool my entire life!"

Jiraiya was taken aback!

"I'm going after him, and I'll do it alone if I have to! I'll create my own incredible jutsu, and whenever the Akatsuki show up, I'll smack em' down!"

Jiraiya shook his head as he tensed up, "The thought of my leaving you to come up with jutsu on your own, like that idiotic Sexy Jutsu of yours…no, it's too depressing." He leapt out onto his frog, "This is more than foolish, it's so colossally foolish that it just might work! We've got a lot of work to do when you get out of the hospital, so be ready to hit the ground running! See ya then…"

Naruto couldn't help the grin that broke out on his face; he threw his hand up in a salute, "You Got It!"

The day was left to fade.

…...

The cave was dark, and an overall dark feel consumed it. Several human shaped figures filled it's empty spaces.

"How long has it been since we all came together like this?"

"Seven years, not since Orochimaru left us."

"And now Orochimaru has the Sharingan."

"Is that true Itachi, your little brother?"

"Don't be impatient, we'll deal with our old friend Orochimaru in due time, we have three years to prepare, and we all know what we need to do to be ready, right?"

"Of course, no mistakes, remember what we seek, everything…including the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

…...

The day had passed in a blur. It was all so hectic, but now that all those involved in the battles were out of harm's way, Tsunade had returned to her office. She had already received a battle report from Shikamaru, but had decided it was best to let the others rest before probing for information.

Three ANBU black ops members stood in front of her desk, one called out, "What are your orders mam?"

Tsunade grabbed a piece of paper on her desk, handing to the man that seemed to be the leader of the ANBU squad.

"What's this mam?"

Tsunade stood up, turning to look out a window behind her desk, "Those are areas I wish for you to search. We combined the information we received from young Shikamaru with the areas we found all of our ninja's at on the battlefield. With the combined information, we were able to make a rough guestimate where the remaining deceased sound ninja's bodies are. I need you to search those areas and bring the bodies back. They could provide vital information on the experiments that Orochimaru has been executing on his underlings and himself, I'm sure I don't have to explain the sort of advantages that could potentially give us."

The ANBU squad leader spoke through his mask, "No mam, I understand, but may I pose a question?"

She nodded her head in approval.

"This list only mentions two bodies…I thought that other than the Uchiha boy, there were a total of five enemies faced?"

The blond woman was quick to reply, "Your right, but only two of the enemies are still unaccounted for, and one was discovered in the same place as Neji Hyuga, another was brought back by the sand ninja Kankuro, and the other, according to Shikamaru, was buried deep in sand by Gaara. Considering the boys prowess with sand techniques, I have no reason to doubt this information."

The ANBU nodded in understanding.

At the sign that the conversation was over, the Hokage barked out one final command, "Be on the lookout for more Sound Ninja, some may have been dispatched to recover the fallen…Now Go!"

All three spoke in unison, "Yes mam!"

All three disappeared in a large puff of smoke, leaving the Hokage alone in her office. She let out a loud sigh, "Sheesh, this is troublesome." She motioned towards her desk, slowly taking a seat as she thought aloud, "Well, what next?"

…...

Night had fallen on the vast forest in the middle of the Fire Country. It was quiet, even the crickets hadn't made a peep. Not surprising, considering they had all escaped a certain area of the forest. It had been ravaged by a battle, leaving nothing but severed trees in its wake.

A few hundred yards away from this spot stood three ANBU black ops officers. All held different heights, and all bore masks.

The shortest of the three whispered to the others, "Looks like the Sound Ninja that was supposed to be here either got away somehow or was recovered by the enemy."

"It would seem so, let's get moving to the location where Choji Akimichi was recovered and start looking for the other one."

The shorter man nodded, "Yes sir, let's get goi-" He stopped mid-sentence, noticing the last of the three men was staring off in the direction of the fallen trees. He approached him, "What is it?"

The ANBU never averted his gaze from the field of fallen trees, "I thought I heard a voice…a feminine voice, that sound nin was supposed to be female."

"We already searched the entire area, there was absolutely no sign of anyone out there," a devilish grin made its way onto the short man's face, not to be seen thanks to his mask, "I bet your just hearing that girl who's heart you broke last week's voice, she's come to haunt you."

The other ANBU turned his head and retorted, "Shut up."

The shorter man had been about to laugh until both he, and the other man got slapped on the head by their squad leader, "You BOTH shut up and let's get moving."

They replied in unison, "Yes Sir!"

All three disappeared into the trees, on their way to the next destination.

The woods fell silent once again.

...…

Naruto had finally fallen asleep, the day had been hell for the young man, so the fact that it took him a few hours to pass out after Jiraiya left was understandable. It was short lived though, as he was currently being roused from his sleep by someone calling out to him. The spiky haired blond slowly opened his eyes, first seeing the moon hanging in the dark night sky, and then he noticed his window was actually open. He slowly sat up, forcing his muscles to move through the pain.

"Finally wake up huh?"

Naruto shifted his gaze to the direction of the voice, he instantly recognized the man, "Kakashi Sensei, what's up, is something wrong?"

The One eyed Jonin leaned in closer to him as he replied, "Well…"

* * *

**Well, How was it? Let me Know!**

** I promise, the next chapter will be less introduction and more plot!**

**Oh yeah, I named this story after a song, It's called No Oath, No Spell by: Murder by Death**

**It's lyrics kind of fit Naruto's struggle.**

**This chapter was named after Another song, The Worry List by: Blue October**

**Oh, and if you want, what's some of your favorite songs, I'm always on the hunt for new music from any genre!**

**Thanks to all of you!**


	2. Good Night, Travel Well

**Well, here's chapter 2! I'd like to answer some questions: To Faceless, I'm not sure yet if this is gonna be a Naruto Harem thing, but it's not unlikely, I definantly plan on writing some stuff like that, it makes for solid comedy, though my plan is gonna heavily involve Tayuya, she's gonna be introduced in Chapter 3, I'm sure you guys can pick up on the context clues. Well, I guess there was just the one question!**

**This is really where my original ideas start to kick in.**

**Italics are thoughts.**

**Guess what...I don't own Naruto! All I own is a couple guitars. (Disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 2

Good Night, Travel Well

...

The moon hung high and proud, its hard light shone bright enough to cast shadows throughout the Leaf Village. The night was unseasonably cold; it sent a chill through the room as Naruto awoke to the sound of someone calling his name. The spiky haired genin lifted his head to meet the source of the voice.

"Finally wake up huh?"

Naruto recognized him instantly, "Kakashi Sensei…what's up, is something wrong?"

The white haired jonin had been standing in the middle of the hospital room, but he stepped in closer to reply to the question, "Well…something isn't exactly wrong…well, at least not yet."

Naruto narrowed his eyes in a look of confusion, "Huh? What the heck does that mean?"

"It means that I'm worried something bad could happen."

Naruto's face shifted to realization as he dropped his right hand into his left like a hammer, "Ah! I gotcha…so what do you think is gonna happen?"

Kakashi's tone of voice dropped a hair and became mellower, "It's not that I think a certain event is going to take place, it's just that I have a bad feeling…"

Naruto was puzzled, "A bad feeling?"

"Yeah…I just have the feeling that Sasuke leaving is just going to trigger more problems in the coming weeks."

The genin nodded his head in agreement, "I know what you mean…but Kakashi Sensei, why are you telling me this now?"

Kakashi 's visible eye narrowed a bit, "I was just given a mission, I have to leave the village tonight, and may be gone for a while, so I won't be around to keep an eye on things here."

"You're leaving right now sensei?"

The jonin nodded, "Yup, As soon as I'm done here with you, I take off…I just wanted to make sure I could trust you to keep an eye on things while I'm gone."

The blond was elated, "_Kakashi sensei has that much trust in me? Well, I'm not gonna keep letting people down_!"

"You can count on me Kakashi Sensei…I'll take care of it."

The jonin grinned underneath his mask as he placed a hand on Naruto's head, "Thanks."

The gesture brought a smile to the genin's face, "No problem sensei!"

Kakashi removed his hand from the boy's head and walked over to the window of the room. He placed a hand on the wall and propped his left leg on the window sill, as he did, he turned his head to look over his shoulder back at his student, "Hey Naruto…one last thing…"

"Yeah sensei?"

There was a pause before Kakashi continued, "…I'm sorry I wasn't there for you…It won't happen again."

Before Naruto had a chance to reply, Kakashi hopped out the window, closing it behind him, and he disappeared into the night.

"Geez Sensei…," Naruto let out a heavy sigh and let his body plop back down in his bed. He slowly pulled his blanket over his eyes, content to fall back asleep.

…

The first streaks of morning light had begun piercing through the horizon as a squad of three ANBU Black Ops presented themselves in front of the busty blond Hokage.

"Reporting in Mam!"

"YAWWWWN," Tsunade attempted to wipe the drowsiness from her eyes before she continued, "Where you able to locate the remaining two bodies?"

One of the men stepped forward, "No, mam, we were only able to find one of the two, it was the one Choji Akimichi entered battle with, we already sent the body to autopsy for analyzing."

The beautiful blond looked up at the man, "What happened with the other one?"

"Well mam, we searched the area where she was said to have fallen and there was no sign of her, so we moved on to the second location."

The Hokage raised a twitching eyebrow, speaking with a pissy tone, "Huh? You mean you didn't send a second squad to try and trace what happened to the body?"

Sensing he was about to meet the lady's fiery rage, the man quickly responded, "Um…no…I'll send someone right now!" He made a hand sign and disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving his two subordinates to receive Tsunade's wrath.

Tsunade jumped up, slamming her hands on her desk, "Hurry up and get the hell out of here and get to work!"

The two remaining ANBU shouted in unison as they ran out of the room, "YES MAM!"

Now left alone in her office, the blonde fell back into her chair, letting a sigh out as she did so, "Why can't they just let me sleep!"

…

Half the day had already passed by the time Naruto began to wake from his exhaustion fueled slumber. He opened his eyes slowly and attempted to roll onto his back, but his body screamed in protest, "OOOUUUUCCHHH…Holy cow that hurts!" He gritted his teeth and forced himself to move onto his back through the pain, "I can't believe I still hurt this much!"

"What, did you expect to heal overnight?"

Naruto jumped at the unexpected voice, causing a shockwave of pain to shoot through his body, "Ouch!"

"Don't move and it won't hurt so much Naruto!"

The genin lifted his head just enough from his lying down position to see who was speaking with him, "Shizune! How the hell did you get in here!?"

"I came in while you were sleeping to check up on you, that should be obvious," she finished with a chuckle.

Naruto shot her a glare, "Hey…are you making fun of me?"

The black haired Kunoichi just smiled at him, "Maybe."

The blond let out an annoyed growl and narrowed his eyes to the point where they looked like slits. He was about to whine when someone knocked on the door.

Shizune called out to the visitor, "It's open."

The door slowly slid open as a lazy looking chunin made his way into the room. He was carrying a small black box under his left arm and some kind of drink in his right, "Hey guys…"

A grin spread across Naruto's face, he was excited to have a visitor, "Hey Shikamaru! What's up?"

Shikamaru yawned before replying, "Well, I was bored, so I stopped by," he looked towards Shizune, "Is it okay for him to have visitors?"

"Sure, I'm all done here anyways, just make sure he stays in bed while your here," she finished with a smile and made her way out of the room, closing the door behind her as she left.

Shikamaru had watched the Kunoichi leave before looking back towards Naruto, "Geez Naruto, you still look like crap."

The blond laid his head back on his pillow and looked up at the ceiling, "Tell me about it, I feel worse than I did last night, I can barely move…so how is everyone else doing…did they let you in to see Choji and Neji yet?"

"Nope, they aren't allowing any visitors, but they did say that they're showing heavy improvement today."

"Well that's good to hear."

The room fell into an awkward silence, and a minute or so passed before the genin broke it, "Hey, what's that box you have there Shikamaru?"

"Oh this," the lazy chunin lifted the box, "It's a shogi set…wanna play a round?"

Naruto was happy at the offer, but he didn't know much about shogi, "Well, I've never really sat down and learned how to play shogi before."

"Figures," Shikamaru let out a sigh, "It'll be a drag…but I can teach you how to play…that is, IF you can sit up."

The genin let out a light laugh, "I'll try."

…

A saddened look had befallen the face of a young pink haired Kunoichi, she had been lost in thought until a voice beckoned her attention, "Hey Sakura!"

Sakura looked up towards the source of the voice, "Oh…hey Ino…"

The blond girl gave her a sour look, "What's with that depressing face Sakura!?"

The pink haired girl turned and began to walk away, "Just leave me alone Ino."

Ino's face began to twitch as she angrily thought to herself, "_Pssh, I come all the way over here to cheer her up and she just walks off! Stupid billboard brow_!"

The blond Kunoichi stormed off, stomping her feet like a kid who didn't get the candy they wanted.

Now left alone once again, Sakura's thoughts just began to wander, "_I couldn't stop Sasuke, I just froze, then I put it all on Naruto…he didn't even flinch…he put his life on the line to try and bring Sasuke back…Your pathetic Sakura…I can't be like that anymore, It's about time __**I**__ do something_ …"

The look on her face changed a bit, showing a bit of determination, and with this new found grit, she walked off towards her house, a plan coming together in her mind.

…

It was nearly two o'clock in the afternoon as a white haired jonin zoomed his way through the forest, propelling from tree branch to tree branch. He had kept a steady pace since his early morning departure from the Leaf Village, reaching the border of the Fire Country much quicker than he had anticipated. Yet as he closed in on the border line, he knew he had to be cautious, enemy ninja could be lying in wait.

He decided to descend from the trees and continue on the forest floor, stopping to think before continuing on, "_If I stay up high, I'd be easily spotted, and considering yesterday's events, the Sound could be expecting us to retaliate quickly…meaning there could be ninja's waiting just beyond the border…So I better move in slo-_," His thinking was interrupted by movement at his rear, "What's that!?"

He quickly removed a kunai from its holster and took on a defensive stance, raising the blade in front of his face and placing the opposite hand on the band that covered his left eye.

"Easy there Kakashi," A long white haired man stepped out from behind a large tree, "It's just me."

The jonin relaxed and returned his kunai to it's rightful place, "Oh, It's just you Master Jiraiya, sorry about that."

"That's alright, it's good that you're on guard, especially considering the mission you were just given!"

Kakashi's visible eye widened a hair in surprise, "Lady Tsunade said no one outside of her and myself would be informed of the details on this mission."

The Toad sage laughed cockily, "HAHA, as if I couldn't figure it out, you ARE headed towards the Land Of Rice Patties after all; it's obvious you're headed to investigate the Sound Village!"

A question popped into Kakashi's mind, "Wait, how did you know I left in the first place?"

"I asked the guard at the village gate if any pretty research specimens had entered the village, and he said you were the only one who had been through the gate all day," the man's face shifted to a pout, "It was lunch time too, and my favorite waitress is working now, but I knew this was important…so I tracked you down."

Kakashi looked sad, he felt shown up, "_Amazing, he said he left at lunch time, that couldn't have been more than two hours ago…and he covered as much ground as I did in almost twelve…and he was able to track me down like it was nothing._"

The spiky haired jonin's thoughts were disrupted by a hand waving in his face, "Hey Kakashi! Your zoning out!"

"Huh?" Kakashi looked Jiraiya in the eyes and gave a small chuckle, "Sorry about that…So what was so important that you had to track me down?"

"Straight to the point as always, not that I mind though, here…take this," the older man pulled a bag out from his shirt, it was clear and held a small piece of tattered clothing.

Kakashi reached out and took it in his hand, "What's this?"

"It's a piece of clothing…it has Orochimaru's scent on it, I managed to get it during the fight with him a few months back, I don't know how much use it will be…but with those hounds of yours, you could get lucky."

The jonin nodded, "It could be a monumental help, thanks…well, I'm gonna get going."

"Right," The Sanin's face and voice became deadly serious, "Good luck, and be careful…don't do something stupid and get yourself killed."

"I don't plan on it; the brat wouldn't let me hear the end of it if I did."

"Good," Jiraiya lifted his hands and disappeared with a flash.

Wasting no time, Kakashi performed some hand signs then slammed a palm into the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!"

Four hounds appeared in front of the jonin, one of which looked like a pug, it took the initiative and spoke, "Hey Kakashi, what's up?"

"I need your help…see this," he opened the bag that Jiraiya had given him, "This has Orochimaru's scent, Were about to enter the Land of Rice Patties…our Mission is to find any information on the Sound Village, and moreover, to locate Orochimaru…were going to split up and try to pick up a trial. We'll meet up every thirty minutes to reassign areas to search."

Kakashi extended the bag out, allowing each dog to get locked on the scent. He sealed the bag back up and placed it in one of the pockets on his jacket, "Are you guys all ready?"

All four dogs replied in unison, "Yeah!"

"Then Scatter!"

All four dogs and the jonin disappeared into the forest, making for the border.

…

In spite of the commotion from the previous day's events, the Konoha Hospital had remained quiet and calm. The only noises that seemed to occupy the halls were the typical sounds to expect from a hospital; light discussions among doctors and nurses, carts hauling food and medicine, and the chatter of those taking residence in waiting rooms. It was a peacefulness that didn't go unnoticed by a pretty blond genin who was carrying flowers as she approached a nurse's station, "Excuse me?"

A good looking female nurse who had been piddling away with paperwork answered, "How can I help you?" The nurse knew the girl the moment she saw her, "…oh, Hello again Ino…what is it you need?"

"Well," the young girl sighed, "I went to the floor where Choji had his surgery, but he wasn't there anymore, I thought this was the floor he'd be on, but he's not, could you look up where they moved him?"

The nurse flashed a smile, "Sure," the woman began to type on a computer that sat on the desk in front of her, "Sure is nice of you to come visit him so often."

"Well, he did almost die, the least I can do is bring him some flowers."

"It's still nice of you, and," something flashed on the screen, catching the Nurse's attention, "Oh, seems Choji is on the next floor up, room 412…but it says no visitors are allowed just yet."

Ino's face sank a little, "Still no visitors? Well THAT sucks."

"I'm sorry Ino, but I tell you what, I'll send word for you when they start letting people in."

"Thanks," The blond girl turned to walk away when a shout filled the hallways, causing everyone on the floor to jump. What had been surprising was that it wasn't so much a scream, it was someone screaming one simple word. All it said was, "WHHHHHAAAAATTTT!?"

However, what had thrown Ino off the most was that she recognized the voice, "_That was…Shikamaru_!"

She ran down the hall away from the nurse's station, and as she flew down the hall a boisterous laugh rang from the same room she thought Shikamaru's voice had come from. She flung the door open and darted in, her suspicions as to who was the source of the voice being confirmed. On a hospital bed in front of her sat Naruto and Shikamaru, the ladder staring down at a shogi board that lay between them, and the former laughing with a proud look on his face. She called out, "What the heck is wrong, what's with the screaming?"

Neither of the two seemed to notice Ino's voice, still lost in their own world, much to her displeasure, but before she could complain, Shikamaru spoke in a flustered tone, "There's just no way, no way in hell!"

Naruto stopped his laughing enough to retort, "You heard me, I said checkmate, just look at the board!"

Ino was taken aback at what she heard, "_Did Naruto just beat Shikamaru at shogi? No one can beat him_…"

As he stared at the board, the flustered look on Shikamaru's face turned into a softer look, he let out a sigh, "Geez…you just moved the pieces without thinking, didn't you?"

The blond boy grinned, "Pretty much!"

"I swear," Shikamaru placed a hand on his forehead, "I swear, you can be ridiculously lucky sometimes, you managed to make the perfect counter move each time without thinking, the chances of that are…well…kind of ridiculously slim…I can't believe I lost like that…what a drag."

"Who cares HOW I won, all tha matters is that I won the bet!" Naruto boasted proudly.

Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look, "Yeah, yeah, so when do you want to get this over with," He shifted his gaze mid-sentence, planning to get a look at the clock, but on the way, he saw a blond girl, looking awful pissed off, "Hey Ino, when did you come in?"

If there is one thing that Ino hates, it's being ignored, she was way too pretty to be brushed off damn it! "I'VE BEEN STANDING HERE FOR THE PAST FIVE MINUTES YOU, YOU IDIOTS JUST INGORED ME THE ENITIRE TIME, APPARANTLY THAT STUPID SHOGI BOARD IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME!"

A look of terror flashed across both boy's faces, this girl was radiating pure bloodlust. Out of fear, both Naruto and Shikamaru quickly let out an apology, "Sorry Ino!"

It was to no avail, she was still pissed.

"CAN IT, I'M OUT OF HERE." She quickly stormed out, slamming the door behind her; it closed so hard that a few cracks made their way across both the wall and the door.

Shikamaru was the first to speak up, "Sheesh, I just don't get girls…so troublesome…"

Naruto nodded in agreement, "And scary."

A few moments passed in silence, it fell quiet enough to hear the hands of the clock ticking, which reminded Shikamaru to check the time, "Whoa, we've been at this for several hours, It's already almost five…We'd better get moving…it's gonna be a drag getting you up and about."

"No complaints Shikamaru, you lost the bet! So let's go!"

…

The sun had begun to set over the horizon as two green spandex wearing ninja were hard at training.

"Gai Sensei! I finished my set of exercises, what is next sir!?"

"Your power of youth is burning strong as always Lee, but I think we're going to have to call it a day…I just received word that the Hokage has summoned me, probably a super cool mission only someone of my caliber can carry out!"

They shorter of the two replied in pure elation, "That is great Gai Sensei! So what should I do then?"

"Well Lee, why don't you go to the hospital and pay a visit to Neji and the others?"

"Yes sir! That is a fantastic Idea Gai-Sensei!"

The older of the two barked out an order, "Then let's get going!"

They both instantly vanished, heading off in opposite directions, leaving nothing but the waning light from the setting sun in their wake.

…

An overly excited and bushy browed jonin presented himself to the Hokage, "What do you need great Lady Hokage!?"

She met his eyes, "I have a mission for you!"

* * *

**Well, there it is, so, how was it?**

**Thanks to all those who favorited or followed this story already, I appreciate it!**

**This chapter was named after the song, Good Night, Travel Well by: The Killers**

**Once again, I seriously would like some music suggestions.**

**Later, I'm off to write some songs.**


	3. On The Dark Streets Below

**Well, Here's chapter three, it's not quite as long as the others, but oh well. A few things, I was going to introduce Tayuya in this chapter, but I had some more things I want to cover first, so expect her to make her debut in the next few chapters. Second, as far as the pairing ideas, I haven't really decided on a harem or not yet, but I have ideas in that regard, though I'm gonna let you read them so I don't ruin the surprises, telling you guys would spoil the fun! I can tell you that Sakura is not gonna end up with Naruto in this story, but he does have to get over her. Last but not least, thanks for the suggestions on abstract characters to throw in the mix, that's what I was thinking anyways and you guys gave me a few more ideas!**

**Thanks to everyone who has taken interest in this story, I'm gonna tell you now, This story will be long.**

**Oh, and a present, I have a song for you guys to check out, maybe listen while you read, It's called Black Chandelier by Biffy Clyro!**

**Well, On with the show!**

**Italics are thoughts, Caps and bold lettering are used for emphasis**

**and now for the worlds most witty Disclaimer.**

**I Don't Own Naruto (disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter Three

On the Dark Streets Below

...

The last specks of light had finally faded from the horizon over the Leaf Village; now that they were gone, the stars in the night sky were becoming visible and the cold autumn air started to take hold of the area. Yet, all of these changes went unnoticed by two high ranking Leaf Ninjas, they were currently in the Hokage's office, and lost in conversation, "What do you need great Lady Hokage!?"

The blond looked up over the mounds of paperwork that lay on her desk, "Oh Guy! I have a mission for you!"

The green bearing bushy brow was ecstatic, as missions always seemed to fuel his ego, "AH-HA-AH-HA, it MUST be something of great danger and intrigue if **I** was chosen for this mission!"

Tsunade just rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Yes Guy, It's top secret."

The jonin extended his right arm in a thumb's up and gave a wide sparkly grin, "Sounds Perfect, so what is this awesome new mission!?"

Tsunade interlocked her fingers if front of her face, resting her elbows on her desk in the process, "There's actually two parts, the first is an escort job…you shall accompany the three Sand Ninjas still in our village back to the Sand Village, acting as a bodyguard along the way…and the second part," The busty blonde's eyes narrowed, her tone sinking to match the expression, "This information is for your ears only, only two others outside of this room will know, and those are Kakashi Hatake and Jiraiya…after you finish the escort job, you will remain in the Land of Wind and investigate for absolutely ANY trace of the Akatsuki, we need to gather as much information on them as possible…you got that?"

During the entirety of the Hokage's explanation, Guy had just been standing with his arms crossed, nodding his head every couple of seconds, he held the position as he answered, "Yeah…I got it…so am I correct in assuming that the escort mission is just a cover so that no one will catch on to the real aim of my mission?"

"Well," the lady Hokage extended her arms over her head as she let out a yawn, "Well that is the general idea…we do want to use it as a distraction from your primary objective, but that's no reason to be too relaxed on the escort mission. It's highly likely that the Sand Ninja Gaara is a target of the Akatsuki, he holds the One Tails inside of him. We know that the Akatsuki likely plan to wait a few years before they make a move, but nothing can be certain with them, they could make a move on him."

The over eager jonin nodded, "I see…"

Tsunade continued on, "That's not the only thing…not too long ago the boy was highly unstable, he seems to have a handle on it now, but…there is still a chance something could upset him and then all hell could break loose, just keep a close eye on him."

"Please! It'll be a breeze for a guy like me! SO! When do we leave?"

"First thing in the morning, I'll have the Sand Ninja's notified, You should expect them at the gate…oh and here," She extended an envelope toward him, "This contains more details about the mission and what little information we have about the Akatsuki's action's in the Land of Wind."

Guy took the envelope from her, letting a corny grin cross his lips, "You can count on me m'lady! I'll get going now."

He had turned away, making his way towards the door, but right as he was about to exit, the Hokage's voice stopped him.

"Wait"

The beast of battle turned his head to face her, "Hmm?"

"Good Luck."

"Right," his reply was simple, being followed by his departure, leaving Tsunade alone in her office.

Tsunade's gaze shifted from the door to the stack of papers on her desk, "_No way I'm finishing this right now,_" she glanced around the room, making sure no one was watching. After she was sure no one was present, she pulled a small white bottle out from under her desk.

"_Hellllloooo Sake_…"

…

Even though night had fallen over the Leaf Village, there was still plenty of light to illuminate the streets around the downtown section of the village. Shops and restaurants were bustling with traffic as crowds of people were living it up. Friends meeting up after work, families out to dinner, and salesmen shouting out specials all seemed to echo through the town. The commotion was enough to give a bushy browed genin trying to make his way through the crowds one simple thought, "_It's so loud! I can't even think straight_!"

"AHHGGGHHH!," he let out an irritated shout as he began to look around for an escape from the crowd; the search proved fruitful as he quickly spotted an alleyway that seemed too dark to be occupied. He made a dash for the alleyway, dodging at least twenty people in the process, and as he finally made his way into it, he let out a sigh of relief, "Man, now THAT was a crowd."

The overly enthusiastic genin glanced around, cheerfully talking to himself as he did so, "Hmmm, this alley is too dark and gloomy," he glanced up to the top of the buildings surrounding him, "Perhaps I should go someplace a bit brighter!"

He knelt down into a squat, "LETS GO!" He sprang from the squat, jumping up far higher than the top of the buildings, "Wooo-Hoooo," he shouted ecstatically as he descended onto one of the buildings overshadowing the alley way.

"Now this spot has a great view!," He took a seat on the edge of the roof, letting his feet hang over the edge of the building, as he did so, he got lost in thought, "_Well…Guy Sensei wanted me to check up on everyone in the hospital…but they wouldn't let me in to see anyone…and then Naruto was gone from his room…even though the nurse said he should be in there…so what should I do now_?"

He let out a sigh and hung his head, focusing his attention on the alley below. He had held the gaze for a few minutes when suddenly something caught his eye, there were two figures sneaking through the alleyway. The first was in the lead, glancing around to look for unwanted company, and the second was VERY slowly making his way behind the first. The genin's caution radar went off as the over energetic bushy brows eye's narrowed, "Now that's suspicious behavior…I must intervene before they start any trouble!"

He quickly stood, pointing a finger at the two hidden men below him, "Stop right there!"

The bushy browed genin jumped off the roof, landing a few feet in front of the two strangers, he finished by taking on his customary fighting stance, placing his right hand in front of his face, and his left behind his back, "Who are you two!?"

The two in front of him had started to shuffle back nervously when one of them yelled, "DAMN IT! You stepped on my foot!"

The other quickly replied, "Give me a break! If you'd just move quicker we wouldn't have been busted!"

"Shaddup, I can barely walk, you're supposed to be helping me, or have you forgotten you-WHOOAA!"

The bushy browed genin had just been watching the two yell at each other when one of the strangers fell face forward into the ground, the other quickly went to help him up, "Crap, Naruto are you all right."

The green bearing genin was surpised, "_Did he say Naruto_?" He dropped the stance he had been holding and moved in closer to see the two men's faces, it was too dark to see them clearly, so he leaned down to get a better look, recognizing one of them instantly, "Shikamaru?"

The spiky black haired genin turned to face him from his crouching position, "Lee? It's just you, you scared the crap out of us…we were all worked up over nothing…what a drag."

"So it is you Shikamaru…but," Lee pointed a finger to the person lying with his face in the ground, "Who's that with you?"

Shikamaru's eyes widened, he remembered that Naruto had just crashed and burned and couldn't move, "Crap, It's Naruto! Help me lift him up Lee."

"Right!" Lee nodded as he knelt down and grabbed Naruto's left shoulder and Shikamaru followed suit, grabbing his right shoulder. As they lifted him up, they were shocked when Naruto started coughing wildly, a stream of blood pouring from his nose. Both Lee and Shikamaru spoke in unison as they hoisted the yellow haired genin to a standing position, "Are you okay Naruto?"

Naruto fought the coughs off enough to yell an answer, "NO I'M NOT OKAY YOU IDIOTS, I WAS DROWNING IN MY OWN BLOOD!"

Shikamaru just shook his head, "Calm down and shut up Naruto. Getting all worked up isn't gonna help, we need stop the bleeding."

Naruto shot him a nasty glare.

"Don't glare at me either Naruto, besides," Shikamaru smirked, "It's not that intimidating when your face is covered in blood."

Naruto had started to growl when Lee decided to interject, "Stop arguing, we need to take care of your face Naruto!"

Naruto stopped growling, "Whatever!"

Lee looked at Shikamaru, "Let's sit him down somewhere," he motioned his head towards a couple crates that sat against the wall of a building.

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah yeah."

The group slowly worked their way over to the crates, making sure not to let Naruto fall again. Once they had reached the crates, Shikamaru and Lee eased the blond into a sitting position, both letting out a sigh right before Naruto gave a thanks, "Thanks guys, I'm not used to being unable to move, but check it out," he lifted his right arm, "I got some more motion back in this arm!"

Bewilderment flashed across Shikamaru's face, "_I can't believe how fast he heals, they said he shouldn't be able to move for a week! He could barely move his arms when we were playing shogi earlier…and now he can lift that one without a problem…what a transition in just a matter of hours…sheesh, that must be nice_…"

The young chunin's thoughts were interrupted by a shout, "OUUCH, easy Lee, you don't have to cram it down my nose!"

From what Shikamaru could tell, Lee had placed a cloth rather forcefully on Naruto's face in an attempt to plug his nose, but he only ended up smacking him. "Sorry Naruto! That was an accident, but you need to hold that cloth to your nose until the blood coagulates!"

"I know Bushy Brow, thanks for the cloth," The blond genin used his right hand to keep pressure on his nose as he looked up at Lee, "Anyways, what the heck are you doing here?"

Shikamaru was curious as well, "I was just wondering that myself."

"Well," the self-proclaimed handsome devil placed a hand on his chin, "I tried to visit everyone at the hospital, but they still weren't allowing visitors in to see Neji or Choji…Kiba already left the hospital, and you weren't in your room Naruto…after that I was bored…so I was sitting up there," he pointed a hand towards the roof of the building he'd been sitting on earlier, "That's when I saw you guys…speaking of which, why are you two sneaking around the alley?"

Naruto grinned as he spoke proudly, "Cause I won the bet!"

Lee raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Huh…A bet…what do you mean?"

"Shikamaru made a bet with me over a game of shogi earlier, whoever won the game got to pick two things that the loser had to do no matter what, and I won!"

Lee was thoroughly flabbergasted as he looked towards the ponytailed chunin, "Did he really beat you at shogi Shikamaru?"

An annoyed look came across the chunin's face, and an annoyed tone came with it, "Yeah…he did, and his first stupid condition was for me to sneak him out of the hospital and buy him some ramen…problem is…we'll probably never hear the end of it if we get caught…so that's why we're sneaking through the alleyway."

As Shikamaru finished, Naruto spoke up again, "So…Bushy Brow, Want to come with us to Ichiraku…I could definantly use the help getting around?"

The handsome devil thought for a moment before replying, "Sounds good…but you know…You might want to get some kind of disguise Naruto, don't you think the first place the nurses will look for you will be at Ichiraku, and those bandages are a dead giveaway!"

"Like a wig or something?"

Lee grinned wildly, "And A giant pair of fake glasses!"

Naruto and Lee had started to imagine how funny the blond would look with stupid glasses and a wig, causing them both to start chuckling, Shikamaru however, didn't seem to be as amused.

The black haired chunin let out a sigh, "Geez…Don't be ridiculous," he managed to get his two companions attention, "My house isn't far from here, I'll just go over there and get you a big hooded jacket to wear, it should hide your presence as long as you can keep your trap shut…the last thing I want is to get murdered by Tsunade or Shizune for sneaking their favorite patient out…So you guys wait here, I'll be right back."

Both Naruto and Lee nodded in approval, so Shikamaru disappeared quickly out of the alley. The two remaining genin remained quiet for a minute, but then a question popped into the busy brow's head, "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the second condition on your bet with Shikamaru…what are you going to make him do?"

An evil smile made its way onto Naruto's face as he motioned for Lee to come closer, the green bearing genin lowered his head next to the blonde's face.

Naruto started whispering his plans into Lee's ear.

Lee nodded his head in understanding.

Naruto whispered a few more words.

Lee's eyes widened.

Naruto continued.

Lee's face blushed.

Naruto whispered a few more quiet words to Lee.

Lee and Naruto both broke out in laughter, which continued until Lee managed to catch his breath long enough to speak a single phrase, "Now this I have to see!"

"Just don't say anything to Shikamaru about it when he gets back."

Lee gave him a thumbs up, "No problem Naruto!"

…

Night had fallen and Ino was still pissed, she was currently walking through the busy streets of the village, "_First stupid billboard brow blows me off when I try to be nice, then Naruto and Shikamaru do the exact same thing_!"

Just then she saw a spiky haired chunin carrying a large jacket over his shoulder as he was racing through the street, at the sight of him the blond girl scoffed, "_Speak of the devil_."

She quickly raced to intercept him, shouting his name as she did so, spite clearly evident in her voice, "Hey SHIKAMARU!"

He cringed at the tone of her voice, coming to a stop right in front of her, he chuckled nervously, "Hey Ino…what's up?"

She inched in closer, seemingly towering over him, "Where are you off to in such a hurry Shikamaru!? What's with the jacket!?"

Shikamaru took a step back, "_Damn she's scary_," he turned around and took off, "Sorry Ino, I can't tell you!"

He shot off like a cannon, leaving the blond in an even fouler mood, "_That ass! Why is everyone ignoring me today!? And what's so secret about a damn jacket_!?"

She sat there getting angrier with every flustered breath she took until someone approached her from behind and tapped her on the shoulder, causing Ino to jump out her skin.

"Whoa! Calm down Ino, it's just me."

The anxiety filled genin turned to face the familiar voice, "Sakura? What are you doing here?"

Sakura gave her a big smile, "I was out walking and I heard you screaming at Shikamaru, so I came to see what all the fuss was about, but right as I got here he took off…looked like you gave him quite a scare…pretty frightening."

The blond crossed her arms and huffed, "He deserved it."

Sakura chuckled at Ino's reaction, "Well, you're welcome to walk with me Ino," the pink haired Kunoichi started to walk away, waving a hand signaling for Ino to follow.

The blond perked up, "Sure, wait up Sakura," she hustled to catch up as the two starting chatting away with their typical gossip, being initiated by Ino.

"Hey Sakura, guess what happened?"

The green eyed genin turned to look at her, "What?"

"Naruto beat Shikamaru at shogi! Who would have guessed that pea-brain had it in him!"

Sakura went wide eyed, "Naruto beat him, Your Kidding!"

"Nope, I was there when it happened! Oh and guess what else!"

"What?"

They carried on that way as they walked, gossip would be traded for the next thirty minutes.

…

Shikamaru descended from a roof into a dark and damp alleyway, "Hey guys, I'm back," he finished by throwing a dark black hooded jacket he'd been carrying at Lee.

Both Naruto and Lee questioned in unison, "What took so long?"

"Well," the lazy chunin ran a hand through his hair, leaving it there as he answered, "First I had to come up with an excuse for my mom about why I took one of my Dad's jackets…then on the way back I had to dodge Ino…and she was looking super pissed off…just be grateful I got back this fast, dealing with women when they get all worked up is such a drag."

Lee started to help Naruto slip on the jacket as Naruto posed a question, "Why was your mom so mad about you taking a jacket?"

The chunin sighed, "How the hell am I supposed to understand what goes on in her head…either way, we should get going before it gets too late."

Lee took his turn to talk, "Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to do everything we have planned," he stifled a laugh as he winked at Naruto, making Naruto hold back a laugh as well.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "Did I miss something?"

Both genin gave a swift reply, "Nope!"

Shikamaru shook his head, "Whatever," he knelt down and threw Naruto's left arm over his shoulder, "Up we go."

The two stood up, and as they did, Naruto used his right arm to pull the hood of the jacket over his head.

Lee looked the blond genin up and down, "Now that's a perfect disguise, I can't even see your face Naruto!"

Shikamaru nodded in agreement, "He's right, you look even shadier than Shino."

The blond was elated, "Great, now I can finally have my sweet Ichiraku!"

With that, The three of them headed out.

* * *

**Well, there it is, tell me what you think! Cause if you don't, I'll place your cookies on a shelf just out of your reach.**

**Got any good music suggestions? Send em' my way please!**

**I named this chapter after a song called On The Dark Streets Below by: Murder by Death (The title fit the chapter, not so much the lyrics though)**

**Once again, Thanks for reading!**


	4. Human Error, Part 1

**And I'm back, first off, this chapter is shorter, it's the first half of the chapter I was working on, I haven't had solid computer access, so I wanted to post as much as I could.**

**As far as the reviews go, thanks a lot folks! I appreciate them! Hey nameless sage, I agree, people always have stories where they go, Hi, I love you, let's make a baby. My story is gonna take it slow. Peoples personalities don't just change on a dime, that's also why Naruto can't just detach himself from Hinata or Sakura, there has to be a process ya know! He's not gonna get with either one in my story.**

**Anyways, on with the show.**

**Italics are thoughts, capitals and bold lettering are for emphasis!**

**I Doth not own Thine Naruto! (disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 4

Human Error Part 1

...

Three young shinobi moved cautiously across the well-lit streets of the Leaf Village, all making sure to raise as little suspicion as possible as they did so. It proved to be a rather easy task until one of them shouted out, causing his two companions to become irritated, "We're close; my sweet Ichiraku is just around the corner, I can smell it from here!"

"Clonk!" The blond haired genin received a swift smack to the head, "Keep your trap shut."

The blond genin immediately began rubbing the spot on his head where the strike had made contact; a pout broke out on his face as he started to whine, "What was that for Shikamaru."

Before the chunin had a chance to reply, the green bearing genin of the group answered for him, speaking in a low whisper, "Isn't it obvious Naruto? Masking your appearance won't do any good if you yell and let everyone recognize you by your voice."

Naruto nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I get it, but," he turned to look at Shikamaru, "You didn't have to hit me," he let out a fake sniffle, "I'm already all bandaged up."

The lazy chunin let out a sigh, "Suck it up, I'm the one that had to practically carry you all the way over here ya know."

The blond smirked, "Then hitting me was pretty dumb, if you had knocked me out, you would have had to carry me all the way back to the hospital as dead weight."

"Nah," the pony tailed chunin shot a smirk right back at him, "If that had been the case, I would've just left you lying here in the street…someone would have eventually found you…saving me from all the work."

A look of defeat fell onto Naruto's face, fake tears beginning to well up in his eyes, "That's so cold!"

Shikamaru just started laughing, "Haha…that look on your face is too damn funny."

Naruto's defeated look shifted to an angered one as he let out a low growl, "You wouldn't just leave me behind, would you Bushy Bro-….hey Shikamaru, where did Bushy Brow go?"

Now noticing that Lee was gone, Shikamaru ventured a guess, "He probably went on ahead while we were talking."

"How dare he try to get ramen before me! Let's go Shikamaru!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to lower your voice?"

"Oops, sorry, mouth will stay shut until it's time for ramen."

The black haired chunin laughed, "I like that idea…but I doubt it's even possible for you to keep it shut for five minutes."

Naruto scoffed, "Ha, wanna make a bet?"

"As a matter of fact, I do, it'll give me a chance to get you back for earlier today…If you can go the rest of the night without talking, I'll buy you more ramen tomorrow…but If I win, You have to buy me dinner over at the Shushuya."

"Deal," the genin nodded his head, and then he ran his hand in front of his lips, mimicking a zipper closing.

"Alright then, not a word starting now."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement as Shikamaru pulled the blonde's left arm tighter over his shoulder, "Let's catch up with Lee."

The two set off towards Ichiraku, one serving as the other's personal crutch.

…

The night was a good bit warmer than the previous one, a typical temperature you'd expect for a mid-September night. The warmer night had been more than welcomed by a group of ANBU black ops who were currently on a mission to locate a missing enemy ninja. The trio that had been dispatched by the Hokage had decided to set up camp in a clearing that bore a creek flowing strongly through it; the day's efforts had really worn them out, so much in fact that two of the men were currently arguing over who got to rest first, "Damn it Nobu! You got to rest earlier today, it should be my turn to sleep!"

The ANBU called Nobu was much taller than the man who was complaining to him, so when he replied, he towered over him, "Shut up Sen, I'm twice your size so it mean I use twice the energy to move around, so I need extra sleep."

The shorter man grabbed a hold of the taller one's shirt, "You calling me short!?"

The taller ANBU's smirk was hidden by his mask, but his mocking tone wasn't, "So what If I am?"

"Cut it out you two! I'm sick of your petty arguing! I'm gonna take the first watch, so both of you shut up and get some sleep!"

The arguing quickly turned into an apology, "Sorry Sir!"

"Forget about it," the man who seemed to be the squad leader took a seat with his back against a nearby tree, and after sitting down, he hailed one of his men, "Hey Sen, come here for a moment."

The short man followed the order; he took a seat next to his captain, "What's up sir?"

The leader of the three laid his head against the tree he was propped on, "Don't you think it's weird that we've found no sign of this girl?"

The short ANBU scratched the top of his head, "Yeah, It doesn't make any sense, her body was crushed…so there's no way she escaped, and there was absolutely no trace of anyone retrieving her…I don't care how skilled someone is at concealing the traces of their presence, there is always at least one or two twigs broken from a human's presence in a forest as thick as this one…and I searched it far too meticulously to have missed anything…but I couldn't find one single trace…she just disappeared."

The squad captain dropped his head in thought, "It's definantly strange…but for now we need to focus on getting sleep…If we do happen to run into some Sound shinobi, I want us to be at full energy…so we'll pick up the search in the morning, but if we don't find any sign by noon, were heading back to report to the Hokage."

Sen nodded, "Sounds good to me…racking my brain after staying up for two days straight is not my idea of fun."

"Then go tell Nobu the plan and get some sleep."

"Yes sir."

The short man headed to follow the order as the squad captain got settled in, preparing himself for the long night of lookout duties.

…

Downtown Konoha was bustling with nighttime traffic as a group of three young Ninja's made their way into the Ichiraku Ramen Shop, a loud voice calling out to them as they did so, "Welcome! Sit wherever you like," the man instantly recognized two of them, "Ah, Shikamaru Nara and Rock Lee, good to see you!"

Lee shot him a big grin, "You too Mr. Teuchi," the bushy browed genin glanced around the shop, noticing it was void of customers, "Not very busy tonight?"

The older man's face dropped, "*sigh* Nah, Tuesday's are always really slow, if Naruto doesn't show up, I usually have leftover ramen."

Lee laughed at the statement, Shikamaru chimed in as well, "Yeah, when it comes to Ramen…Naruto's a fat kid."

Said blond genin had been hanging onto Shikamaru's shoulders quietly, trying his best not to break his current bet by screaming out his favorite order, but Shikamaru's last comment almost made him break silence to throw a comeback at the chunin. Realizing Shikamaru was provoking him, Naruto fought to keep his mouth shut, but he still shot the chunin a death glare from under the hood that was concealing his face, only to be met by a menacing grin on the Nara boy's face.

The two were interrupted when a female voice rang out from the back of the shop, "So Shikamaru, who's that hanging on your shoulder, I can't see his face?"

Shikamaru and Naruto looked towards the source of the voice, both recognizing the person as Teuchi's daughter Ayame. Naruto used his operable arm to pull his hood down deeper over his face as Shikamaru answered her question, "Sorry Ayame, but that's a secret…let's just say it's a friend of mine."

Both Teuchi and Ayame gave him suspicious looks, but before either could say anything, Lee yelled at Shikamaru, the black haired genin had already taken a seat at the bar, "Hey, Shikamaru, come order, I'm hungry!"

"Yeah yeah, hold your horses Lee," he whispered To Naruto, "Let's go, I'm gonna sit you all the way over in the corner."

The hidden genin nodded in approval, so the two made their way to the bar stools and Shikamaru helped Naruto take a seat. The ponytailed chunin settled into a chair, Naruto on his left and Lee on his right, he glanced up at the roof, "What do you guys want?"

Teuchi focused his attention on the three, apt to take the order.

Lee knew what he wanted immediately, looking up at the older man taking the order, "I want the biggest bowl of BBQ Pork Ramen you make!"

"Ayame, one extra-large BBQ Pork!"

Teuchi shifted his gaze at Shikamaru, "How bout you?"

The chunin elbowed the mysterious genin sitting next to him, "Hey, would you suggest that BBQ ramen?"

All he got for an answer was a thumbs up from Naruto.

"Cool," the chunin looked back at Teuchi, "I'll have the BBQ Pork Ramen as well."

"Ayame, Make that two of the extra-large BBQ Pork!"

Teuchi looked to Shikamaru, "So how bout your friend?"

Shikamaru placed his elbows on the counter, promptly resting his jaw in his hands as he looked towards Naruto, "He's not allowed to talk, so I don't know."

A low growl emanated from the hidden genin, "_Is he gonna try and weasel out of buying me ramen, If I order…I have to talk, not fair_!"

Just then, a pencil and paper slid across the bar, they had come from Lee, "Write your order on there!

Tears of happiness welled up in Naruto's eyes, "_I knew I could count on you Bushy Brow!_"

The blond began writing on the paper with conviction, they all quietly waited for him to finish, and all that could be heard was the sound of the pencil against the paper and the subtle sounds Of Ayame cooking in the back. Once the hidden genin had finally finished, he slid the paper over to Shikamaru, and the chunin's eyes widened, "You expect me to pay for all of this!?"

Once again, the only answer he received was a thumbs up. Lee started laughing, and it only added to Shikamaru's chagrin, "What a drag…you better eat all of this," he finished by passing the note to Teuchi.

The older man read the order, "Ha, no hiding who this is after you read this," he extended the paper towards his daughter/employee, "Here Ayame, the next part of the order."

The brown haired girl began to glance it over:

_First off, I want five bowls of miso ramen with extra chashu!_

_Extra BBQ PORK!_

_And I want them ready one after another, if you give them to me_

_all at the same time, they'll get all soggy_

_and I hate soggy RAMEN!_

_Then I want two bowls with some veggies thrown in_

_Everyone whines and says I should eat more of them_

_Oh, and the lazy bum with the ponytail is paying_

_Cause __**I**__ won the bet! _

The brown eyed girl started to giggle, "Your right dad, it's definantly Naruto."

At the sound of his name, Shikamaru and Lee shouted, "SSHHHHHH, don't say his name!"

The shouts were followed by an explanation from Shikamaru, "He's still supposed to be in the hospital, if we get busted, we'll get beat!"

Ayame put both hands in front of her mouth, "Sorry!"

Lee grinned at the girl, "Don't worry about it, just don't tell anyone, Naruto speaks so highly of you and your father, so I'm sure you're trustworthy."

A loud smack rang out before anyone could say anything else; it came from Shikamaru's hand making contact with Naruto's head, which was now visible.

"Keep that hood on you idiot, I swear, for a ninja, you sure suck at concealing your presence!"

It took every ounce of restraint Naruto had not to scream at the chunin, but he wasn't gonna let Shikamaru win the bet, even though the annoying grin on the chunin's face made Naruto even more pissed, Shikamaru was obviously getting a kick out of this, and all Naruto could do was growl.

However, the growling was stopped when Ayame shouted at the blond, a heavy look of concern present on her face, "Oh my gosh, what happened to you Naruto, your all beat up, even your heads bandaged!?"

Teuchi was equally shocked, "Seriously, maybe you should still be at the hospital kid."

Naruto shook his head no, he forcefully pointed at the giant pot of soup behind Ayame, then at his mouth. He used his right hand to pull the hood back over his head, and settled into his chair."

Shikamaru called out to the two cooks, "Don't worry about him, this kid is blind to pain when it comes to getting his ramen."

"Yes," Lee joined in, "You can count on you know who to tough it out! He always says that your ramen and sleep are the two best medicines!"

A grin broke out onto Ayame's face, "Then I'll whip up the best batch of Ramen I've ever made to help him get better!"

A booming laugh escaped Teuchi's lips, "HA HA HA, and the first bowl is on the house!"

All that was left for the three Ninja's was to wait for the sweet Ichiraku!

* * *

**Shorter than the norm, but what did you think?**

**Like I said, this is the first part of this chapter.**

**It's named after a song called Human Error by: We Were Promised Jetpacks (It's about how stupid people can be)**

**As always, any good songs? then throw em' at me!**

**Thanks guys!**


	5. Human Error, Part 2

**Well, here's chapter 5, like I said before, this is pretty much the back half of the last chapter. No for a few answers, One, I can't promise that the comedy won't get raunchy from time to time, but it won't be my primary focus. Second, I don't know about Naruto getting with more than one girl, my plan is for him to get with Tayuya, that doesn't mean there won't be some multiple girl madness on the way there. Last, Guest who gave me song suggestions...I officially love you, or at least your taste in music, two great songs I've never heard before. (Which is weird cause I know both bands)**

**Maybe you'll listen to a good song while you read, maybe Everything to Nothing by: Manchester Orchestra...maybe**

**Anyways, on with the show**

**Italics are thoughts, Capitals and Bolds are for emphasis.**

**I don't own Naruto (disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 5

Human Error Part 2

The day had been hectic, and now that night had finally brought along the end of the day, the Hokage stood in her office gazing out over the Leaf Village. As she did so, she took notice at how pretty the lights of the village looked in contrast to the darkened skyline, "_Wow…this place has grown so much, yet it's as amazing as ever._"

A smile broke out on her face; she took a deep breath and let out a yawn, only to hear a voice call out mid yawn.

"Sounds like you've had a long day princess!"

Tsunade reeled around quickly to see her fellow sannin sitting in her chair, busying himself looking through the paperwork on her desk, "Jiraiya, when the hell did you sneak in here?"

The white haired old man boasted proudly, "Oh please Tsunade! You know I'm an expert at covert infiltration."

The pervy man went back to rifling through the documents on the Hokage's desk, and it was noticed with displeasure by said Hokage, "What the hell do you think you're doing going through my stuff!"

It fell on deaf ears, or more like ears that where currently ignoring her, Jiraiya disregarded her words and spoke out, "I see that one of the sound ninja's that took Sasuke Uchiha is still missing," the sannin shook his head and his tone shifted into a teasing one, "Sounds like some shoddy work, I mean how difficult can it be to find one little girl Tsunade?"

The blonde's right eye twitched as anger began to fuel her thoughts, not only was he ignoring her, he was now mocking her, "Then why don't you go find her yourself!?"

She finished the shout by punching him square across the face, sending him flying comically out of her chair and into the wall. The action left her fully satisfied as she let out a sigh of relief and took a seat in the now unoccupied chair, "Anything else to say Jiraiya?"

Jiraiya pulled himself into a sitting position with his back against the wall, "_Fiery temper as always_," he rubbed the cheek that had been pummeled in, "I wasn't making fun of you," she glared at him before he continued, "Seriously, I was just remarking, and yeah…I do have a few more things to say…you did an excellent job making sure those boys didn't die, your amazing as always."

"Shut up Jiraiya."

A boisterous laugh broke out from the man, "Learn to accept a compliment! Anyways, I'll be taking my leave now."

Tsunade watched as the man walked towards one of the large windows at the back of her office, he opened it before calling out over his shoulder, "There was one other thing I wanted to say before I left…" A lecherous look broke out over his face, "You look as voluptuous as ever!"

The blond woman launched a pen from her desk at him, "Get out of here you old bastard!"

Jiraiya had already disappeared out the window by the time the pen would have hit him, all that could be heard of him from the office was his cocky laughter, "HA HA, You missed!"

The Hokage dropped her forehead onto her desk, she knew full well that the man would never change, yet it still annoyed the hell out of her, "Idiot."

She let out an irritated breath, "I better finish this paperwork," she started to reorganize the documents that Jiraiya had been going through when she noticed one was missing, "Wait a second…he didn't!"

Without a moment's hesitation she stood and stormed out of her office, a certain lecherous Sannin was about to die.

…

Naruto, Lee, and Shikamaru had successfully infiltrated the Ichiraku Ramen Shop and were now waiting for their orders to be ready. Naruto had managed to remain silent as per his bet, but Shikamaru and Lee had been amidst a fairly serious conversation. Yet as to what they were talking about, Naruto wasn't sure, the only words he'd caught were "Sake," "Bones," and "You're kidding me." He may have heard more if he hadn't been lost in his thoughts, his mind was pacing through the events from two days ago, "_I still don't get it…why does Sasuke think he needs that Orochimaru to become stronger…he's already so powerful…he's got the Sharingan…and he beat me,_" his mood grew more and more gloomy, but it was pushed to a mix of sadness and anger when something Sasuke said to him rang through his head, "_I'm gonna break that bond_!"

The emotions bled into his right fist as he slammed it down on the bar, an angry word flying through his head as he did so, "_Damn_!"

Silence immediately broke out over the little shop; it remained that way until Shikamaru spoke up, "What the hell was that all about?"

Lee leaned back on his bar stool to look at the hidden Genin, "Are you alright over there?"

The blond genin reached for the pen he had used to place his order from before and snatched a piece of paper from off the counter; he scribbled something down and slid the paper to the chunin that sat next to him. Shikamaru lifted it to his face and read it aloud, "Sorry, just thinking…"

The chunin shook his head, "You know, there's nothing you can do about it right now…so take it easy, alright?"

Lee chimed in, "He's right, you should focus on what you CAN do right now, and that's eat some Ramen!"

The grin that broke out on Naruto's face couldn't be seen by the others thanks to his hooded jacket, but they could sense that he loosened up, and right as he did, a giant bowl of Ramen was sat down in front of the blonde's face, and a pretty girl's voice came right along with it, "It's the biggest bowl I've got in the shop, I hope you can eat all of it!"

Naruto shot Ayame a grin so big that it caused the girl to giggle, she spoke through the chuckle, "I hope you like it," she turned around and retrieved more Ramen, grabbing a bowl in each hand, she turned and placed one in front of both Shikamaru and Lee, "Two bowls of BBQ Pork Ramen, Eat up!"

Both spoke a thank you, and both grabbed a set of chopsticks from a tray that held a whole set of them. Each of them broke the sticks apart and started to eat, neither of them noticing Naruto was trying (to no avail) to break his chopsticks apart one handed so he could start eating. The blond was now growling, "_Stupid chopsticks, just separate so I can eat my freaking Ramen! Come ooon_," just then an idea struck him, "_That should work_!"

He took the sticks and wedged the countertop between them, forcing them down until, SNAP! They finally broke, but one of them fell to the ground, much to the genin's fury, "_NO NO NO_!"

He was about to cry when someone reached down and grabbed the fallen stick, as the person stood up straight, he recognized them immediately, it was Sakura, and Ino was standing behind her, his thougts were panicked, "_Crap, what's Sakura doing here_?"

The blond tilted his head down to hide his face further under his hood as the pink haired Kunoichi extended her hand towards him, "Here, You dropped this."

Without a word he took the chopstick from her and turned back towards his ramen. The Pink haired girl tilted her head and gave him a curious look, but before she could probe into the mysterious hooded person's identity, Lee noticed the two girls had come into the shop, "Sakura and Ino, what are you two doing here?"

Shikamaru turned to face them as Ino replied, "Well…we were out walking when we heard you guys talking in here, so we came in to say Hi…so what are you guys doing here?"

The Nara boy gave her an annoyed look and spoke in an overly sarcastic tone, "What's it look like were doing, were eating."

The blond girl shot him a death glare, "Shikamaru…I will hit you."

The chunin ignored her entirely, "Whatever," he turned back around and returned to his ramen, rolling his eyes towards Naruto as he did so. The Kyuubi container had to stifle a laugh.

"You little!" Ino lifted a fist, fully prepared to hit the chunin, but Sakura pulled her back, "Calm down there Ino."

Lee spoke up, "She's right Ino, how bout you ladies have a seat and let my buy you a bowl of ramen?"

Sakura smiled at the green bearing genin, "That sounds great!"

As Sakura manhandled Ino across the shop and into a seat next to Lee, Shikamaru whispered into the handsome devil's ear, "What the hell were you thinking man, we're trying to keep Naruto hidden, you should have let them leave."

Lee's eyes widened as he shouted, "Oh no, I completely forgot!"

At the sound of the yell, Ino stopped her temper tantrum, both she and Sakura questioned in unison, "Forgot what?"

Lee fumbled for an answer, "Umm…nothing…just that ummm, forget it, what do you guys want to eat?"

Both girls glared at Lee and he was cracking under the pressure, but luckily for him, Ayame had been paying attention and came to his rescue, inquisitioning for the Kunoichi's orders, "So ladies, what would you like?"

Once again, the two spoke in unison, "Whatever has the lowest amount of calories!"

Shikamaru and Lee had the same weirded out looks on their faces, it was strange how the two girls thought the exact same way. Just then, Naruto slipped them a piece of paper:

Is it just me or is it freaky when they do that?

The two of them read it at the same time, and they both broke out laughing, leaving the two kunoichi's with puzzled looks upon their faces.

…

On the opposite side of the Leaf Village an older ninja was making a mad dash across the roofs of a residential area, he was trying to escape the beating he knew was coming for him, "_Damn, That Tsunade is faster than ever when she's mad_!"

He reached into his gi top and removed some papers, letting a loud laugh out as he talked to himself, "HaHaHa, Hope your grateful Naruto, I might get murdered getting these for you!"

His carefree attitude suddenly changed to a serious one as he looked back over his shoulder, "Crap, she's getting closer," he glanced down at the papers he held in his hand, "_I need to hide these until I can get em' to that Nara kid…but what should I do with them for now…hmmm_?"

Just then the sannin saw someone walking the vacant streets below him that answered the question for him, "Isn't that the Inuzuka boy, Perfect!"

He descended from the rooftops, "Hey Kid, Look out!"

The white haired man's landing caused the boy to fall over, immediately pissing the young ninja off, "Hey What the hell is your problem, watch where you're going you," the young ninja realized who the man was that had landed in front of him, anger shifted to respect in a hurry, "Master Jiraiya…what's up?"

"Your Kiba Inuzuka…right?"

The boy stood as he answered, "Yeah, that's me."

"And your friends with Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara…right?"

"Yeah…why?"

Jiraiya let out a sigh of relief, "*sigh* Good…I don't have a ton of time to explain, here, take these," he extended the papers he'd been carrying over to Kiba, "I need you to get those to Shikamaru, tell him to make a copy of them…then he needs to give that copy to Naruto…also, make sure you guys don't tell ANYONE! Not your friends, not Tsunade, I mean no one! You got that?"

The brown haired ninja nodded, "Yeah, I got it."

"Very good…Oh crap," Jiraiya felt his pursuer about to catch up, so he gave his final command to Kiba, "One last thing…someone has to sneak the original copy of those papers back into Tsunade's office!"

The genin gave him a look of disbelief, "Say what?"

Before the sannin could answer, a loud feminine voice echoed through the street, "Found you Jiraiya!"

Kiba looked up to the sky above them, a blond woman was flying down fast!

Jiraiya bolted off down the road, "Sorry kid, gotta run!"

The elder man was barely out of the way when, BOOM, Tsunade punched the ground where he was standing, causing a small crater to form in the ground, and a shockwave along with it. The wave was enough to send Kiba flying to the ground for a second time in a mere two minutes.

"Jiraiya you bastard, don't think you'll get away that easy!"

"You'll never catch me Tsunade, HA!"

She let out a growl before taking off after him, "We'll just see about that!"

As both sannin disappeared from sight, Kiba sat on his butt with a look of shock on his face, a look that grew even more severe as he glanced down at the newly formed crater in the ground. He let out a nervous laugh, "Aha, I think I'll let Naruto be the one to sneak these papers back into her office…"

At the thought of the papers, Kiba brought them up to his face, but what was on them surprised him a bit, "Wait a second…isn't this that girl that Shikamaru fought…what's so important about this that it has to be kept secret…hmm…maybe Shikamaru can tell me something…guess I better go find him?"

The young genin stood and placed a hand on his stomach, "Ouch, still hurts!"

With that, he headed off to deliver the documents.

…

On the opposite side of the Village, five young ninja's sat in the Ichiraku Ramen shop, four of them had already finished eating every last bit of their ramen, and one sat hidden under a jacket at the end of the bar, currently working on his fourth bowl of ramen. Those who knew Naruto was underneath the jacket weren't surprised at all at the amount he was consuming, but the two Kunoichi's that sat farthest away from him were a bit shocked.

"Sheesh," a pink haired Kunoichi remarked, "Hey Shikamaru, your hidden friend over there eats almost as much ramen as Naruto does, doesn't he?"

Naruto panicked for a second, "_Crap, I've been found out_!"

The pony tailed chunin yawned, "Yeah, I suppose he does."

Shikamaru and Lee both laughed a little, causing Sakura to give them a pensive stare; she was starting to get an idea of who sat hidden under that Jacket. She was about to ask Lee if it was Naruto when Ino, who had been quiet for a while, said something, "Hey Shikamaru?"

The lazy chunin had been resting his head and arms on the bar, but at the sound of his name, he sat up, "What's up Ino?"

The blond girl looked in front of Sakura and Lee to meet his gaze, "What happened out there…I mean…I haven't heard what exactly went on…why didn't you manage to bring Sasuke back?"

Naruto winced at the words, he stopped eating as depressing thoughts began to flood him again, but one thought rang louder than the others, "_It was my fault_. "

Ino's question didn't just change Naruto's mood, a saddened look flew onto Sakura's face as well, even Lee let out a heavy sigh before Shikamaru started to answer, the chunin began to retrace the events, everyone in the shop listened intently, ninja and chef's alike, "Well, Lee here, Neji, Kiba, Choji, Naruto, and myself all headed out in pursuit…we caught up to them…they had four members in their squad and they were carrying Sasuke in a weird container with seals all over it…we tried to ambush them, but fell into a trap ourselves, by the time we escaped, all but one of the enemies had left…Choji stayed behind to fight the first one so the rest of us could continue the pursuit, he nearly died defeating him."

The whole shop fell silent for a few moments before he carried on, "We caught up to them again, and long story short, Neji stayed behind to fight one of them while Kiba, Naruto, and me went on after the remaining two…Neji ended up in terrible shape as well…Anyways, when we caught up to them, Kiba ended up falling into a ravine with one the sound ninja's, I'm not sure on the details of the fight, but I know Kankuro ended up killing the sound ninja that Kiba fought. That left Naruto and me with the last sound ninja, but right as we were about to make off with Sasuke, an unexpected enemy showed up, he was much stronger than any of the previous four, he took Sasuke and made for the border, So I had no choice but to send Naruto after him while I stayed behind to Fight…Lee knows more about what happened after that, Right Lee?"

All eyes, with the exception of Naruto, shifted towards the green bearing genin, "That's right, I arrived just in time to see Sasuke emerge from the crate he had been in, something was different about him…something darker."

As Naruto listened, Lee's last few words made sense to him, "_He's right…Sasuke's whole aura felt wrong_."

Naruto refocused his mind to listen as Lee continued the story, "Sasuke Left, and Naruto was too busy calling out to him to notice he was about to be attacked, so I stepped in…The man used his own bones as weapons!"

Sakura, Ino, Teuchi, and Ayame all spoke in surprise, "Bones?"

Lee nodded in affirmation, "Yeah, It was weird, they even grew out of his body…he was really strong…If it hadn't been for Gaara, I may have died."

Sakura posed a question, "Gaara was there?"

Lee nodded, "Yeah, He and I fought the sound ninja together while Naruto went after Sasuke…I don't know exactly how it happened, but Naruto and Sasuke had a serious fight…and I think you know the rest."

"_Yeah_," Naruto thought to himself, "_I couldn't bring him back, that's what happened next_."

Ino got pissed all of a sudden, "Yeah, Naruto lost, BIG shocker."

An angry glare took residence on Naruto's face at her words, and it just got worse as the blond girl carried on, "What the hell did you expect when you sent NARUTO after Sasuke, that was stupid Shikamaru!"

Sakura shot her a glare, "Shut up Ino, Naruto risked his life trying to bring him back."

"Come on Sakura, you didn't really think Naruto could beat Sasuke did you?"

The pink haired Kunoichi lowered her head with a sad look upon her face, "Naruto's stronger than you think Ino."

The blond girl just kept on running her big mouth, "Yeah right, someone else should have gone after Sasuke."

Shikamaru had managed to keep quiet, but he could feel Naruto's anger building next to him, arguing with girls was not his idea of fun, but he felt it was time to say something. Yet right as he was about to, Lee stood from his chair, he angrily pointed at Ino "You don't know what you're talking about!"

The blond girl scoffed at him, "Oh yeah!? I've seen Sasuke pummel Naruto repeatedly; Naruto is inferior to him in every way!"

Even though his friends had defended him, every word Naruto heard come from Ino's just piled onto his rage, but that last comment, that was it, he couldn't accept being called inferior to Sasuke! He finally let two words slip from his mouth; they were delivered low and trough a growl, "Can It!"

Everyone in the shop jumped a bit, his tone was full of annoyed anger…almost bloodlust, but after the initial shock passed, Ino started spatting off again, sassy as ever, "EXCUSE ME!?

Naruto was about to start screaming at her when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder, he looked up to see it was Shikamaru's, the chunin shook his head as if to say, "calm down, it's not worth it," the gesture seemed to work, as Naruto cooled off a bit. Noticing that Naruto had calmed down, Shikamaru turned to glance over at his Teammate, a feel of seriousness was emanating from him, but before he said anything, Ino snapped at him, "What!?"

When Shikamaru answered, he used a voice that was rarely heard from him, he was legitimately angry, "Shut up Ino, Lee and Sakura are right, you don't know what you're talking about!"

She opened her mouth to retort, but Shikamaru snapped again right as she opened her mouth, "I said Shut up! We all fought together to bring Sasuke back, and we all sent Naruto ahead because we trusted him, you have no idea what he did to try and bring your PRECIOUS Sasuke back, If you're gonna blame someone for Sasuke leaving, blame Sasuke himself!"

Ino was speechless; Shikamaru had never yelled at her like this before, in fact, she'd never heard him yell at anyone like this before.

And he wasn't even done yet, he pointed a finger at Sakura, "And you Sakura!"

"Whoa Whoa!" Lee jumped in front of him, "Calm down Shikamaru, let's just get out of here, that's enough for now, I think you made your point."

The chunin took a deep breath, "I guess you're right," his face returned to its usual tired state as he turned to look at the shocked faces of Teuchi and Ayame, "Sorry about the ruckus."

Teuchi's face turned into a big grin, "Don't worry about it!"

"Cool," Shikamaru reached into a pocket and retrieved some money, giving a few bills to Teuchi, "I'll cover the girls and Lee's as well."

Lee spoke up, "Hey, are you sure about that?"

The chunin nodded, "It's cool, since he got mad, he didn't end up eating as much as I thought he would."

Lee nodded, "All right then," the bushy browed genin walked over to where Naruto sat, "Let's go."

Naruto whispered, "Thanks Bushy Brow."

"No problem," Lee leaned down and wrapped Naruto's left arm over his shoulder, once settled he stood up, hoisting the blond genin into a standing position. By the time they stood, Teuchi had handed Shikamaru his change and he waved a good bye to Naruto before heading back over to the kitchen.

Shikamaru looked over to Naruto and Lee, "Ready?"

Naruto just nodded as Lee answered, "Yeah, Let's go! Good bye Girls!"

They had turned to leave but stopped when a voice hailed for them to wait, all three looked as Ayame came around the bar and walked up to them, she knelt down and planted a kiss on Naruto's cheek before speaking, "Don't let her get to you, ok?"

A giant grin broke out on Naruto's face as he whispered back to Ayame, "I won't."

Lee saw her kiss him first hand and he was utterly shocked! His thoughts were obviously running ramped, but they stopped when he saw Shikamaru leave the shop. He and Naruto worked their way outside behind him, one leaning greatly on the other. The three of them walked in away from Ichiraku in silence for a few minutes, but after they were a good ways away, Shikamaru stopped in front of them and looked at Naruto.

The blond raised an eyebrow, "What?"

"This time…you lost the bet…"

"Yeah, Yeah, I know, now I owe YOU Shushuya, but SPEAKING of bets…"

…

The Konoha Hot Springs were surprisingly busy for a Tuesday night, much to the pleasure of one Lecherous white haired sannin. He had taken up a hidden position just above the women's bath and was currently reveling in the sights, a pair of binoculars pressed to his eyes as he talked to himself, "This is GREEAAT, I finally gave Tsunade the slip, and the bath is so busy tonight!"

"Hehehe, Lovely Research!"

* * *

**So, How was it?**

**Oh, and Tayuya should be showing up in the next two chapters, I'm taking my time with this, I want to build a solid story.**

**This chapter was named after a song called Human Error by: We Were Promised Jetpacks (It's pretty much about the stupid crap people do and learning from it)**

**A always, throw me some good songs to listen to!**

**Thanks! I sincerely hope your enjoying it!**


	6. Human Error, Part 3

**And I'm back, sorry about the longer wait. There were lots of things interfering with my writing.**

**First off, I don't plan to make Ino a psycho bitch, people where all, "OH NO!" But between you and me, she seems like the time that can be a bitch...**

**Second, we're in the countdown to Tayuya's appearance. Next two chapters gonna really get into it.**

**Third, I'm thinking of bringing Idate into this story.**

**Thanks to those who have been following and reviewing!**

**Anyway's, Onward we march!**

**Italics are thoughts, Bold and Capital's are for sarcasm and emphasis.**

**I don't own Naruto (Disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 6

Human Error, Part 3

Even though he had originally planned to spend the night taking it easy, Kiba had spent the last hour attempting to locate Shikamaru, a task that turned out more difficult than he'd originally thought, and it was all thanks to one pervy old sage. After getting over his initial anger at being made to be a delivery boy, his first thought was to go directly to Shikamaru's house to look for him, but the chunin's mother had informed Kiba that the Nara boy was still out and finished by slamming the door and shouting angrily about how her son should have the decency to show up in time for dinner. Unfortunately for Kiba, she hadn't mentioned where the boy had gone, but as he went to leave, Shikamaru's father Shikaku came outside and told him that his son had gone to the hospital earlier in the day. Yet after he checked the hospital, he found that Shikamaru wasn't there anymore, and Naruto was gone from his room (A fact that had several nurses ill at ease).

As he watched the nurses flock to talk about the missing genin, a thought occurred to him, "_If Naruto took off; he must have had help from Shikamaru…and the first place he would go is to get food…so he must be at Ichiraku!_"

He made his way to the knucklehead ninja's usual haunt, but after going in, he found the ramen shop void of people outside of the two that worked it, "Hey, Have Shikamaru or Naruto been in here?!"

"Huh…" Old man Teuchi looked up at him, "Yeah, they were here with Lee as well," he pointed a hand to the right," and all three of them left in that direction."

Kiba flashed the man a smile, "Thanks…later!"

As the genin left, Ayame made a comment to her father, "He was all bandaged up as well, I don't know how they can keep going out and getting all tore up."

Teuchi laughed, "Its cause they've got grit!"

She looked puzzled, "Grit... I don't get it."

…

On an opposite side of the Village, Sakura and Ino had left the ramen shop and where walking and talking, the blond girl in specific was really spatting off, "I mean really, I can't believe that Shikamaru would talk to me like that!"

"You brought it on yourself Ino."

"So what…I get lost in anger sometimes and say stupid stuff…," Ino spoke with a pout, "He didn't have to yell at me like that because of it…"

Sakura laughed, "Ha, you know how Shikamaru is, you have to do a lot to get him worked up like that, and I think I know why he got so mad."

Ino looked at her intently, "Why?"

"You know that guy that was there with Shikamaru and Lee…I'm pretty sure that was Naruto."

Ino stopped walking as a look of terror grew on her face, "Oh no…"

Sakura stopped in front of her and continued her explanation, "And you may not believe it…but Naruto's definantly hurting more than you and I right now…and the things you said…they just made it worse…That's why Shikamaru and Lee got so mad."

As Sakura talked, the blond girl just felt more and more awful, "It's not like I meant everything I said!"

Sakura retorted, "I know that, but you still pointed a finger at him…and you know how he's been treated his whole life, everyone's always blamed him and he's been alone the whole time, I did it, you did it…everyone in this village shunned him…but you know…he's beating himself up right now because he couldn't bring Sasuke back…and one of the people he considers his friends said that behind his back…It's no wonder he got so mad."

Ino felt like crying, "What the hell should I do?"

Sakura smiled at the girl, "Just go apologize to him...he'll give you a goofy grin and forgive you."

"Really?"

Sakura turned and started walking in the direction of the Konoha Hospital, "That's just the way he is, so come on, let's go over there now so you don't put it off."

The two Kunoichi's headed out, one quiet, and the other rehearsing an apology.

…

Kiba's search wasn't fruitful, and he was just about to scream in frustration, "_Where the hell could they have gone_!"

Just then a light breeze blew through the streets, and it carried something that made the fanged genin grin, he sniffed the air, "_That's Shikamaru's scent…gotcha_!" His thoughts carried on, "_Wait a second…that's where the hot springs are…what the hell would they be doing over there? Guess there's only one way to find out_."

He started out, letting his nose light the path.

…

Shikamaru, Lee, and Naruto where all standing out in front of the Konoha Hot Springs, the three had slowly made their way over after they'd left Ichiraku. It was pretty easy to spot them, thanks to Shikamaru and Naruto, they were arguing…quite loudly.

Shikamaru's face was beet red with a blush, "I'm not doing it!"

Naruto was being hoisted up on Lee's shoulder as he shouted, "Yes you are!"

"No way…It's too much of a hassle!"

"You don't have a choice! Cause I won the bet, and the second condition was you had to do whatever I said!"

Lee had just been watching the two spat off, but they were starting to get a bit TOO loud, Naruto's shouts were right in his ear after all! "Both of you, quiet down! You're blowing my ears up! Besides, this is supposed to be a covert operation!"

The two stopped arguing, at least with words, they were still exchanging death glares. The place had fallen silent; all that could be heard was the running water that surrounded the area. The silence held for a few minutes, and then Shikamaru broke it, "Fine…I'll do it…"

Both Lee and Naruto jumped for joy, "We win."

The chunin shook his head, the blush from before was still evident, "If I do it, I get to wear a mask or something over my face."

The blond genin grinned at him, "Fine by me, so do it!"

"Just know…I will get you back for this," Shikamaru interlaced a few of his fingers together and pointed two straight up, "Transform."

Shikamaru now had the appearance of a beautiful young woman, Naruto laughed, "It looks like you learned my sexy jutsu, looks good!"

Lee agreed, "Naruto is right, that's a great transformation."

"I'm going in…what a drag…"

The now female looking chunin walked into the women's side of the Hot springs, leaving the two genin outside, and both started laughing, Naruto spoke like and excited kid who was about to get candy, "This is gonna be great."

The green bearing genin spoke the exact same way, "We better find somewhere we can watch!"

"HEEEEEYYYYYY!"

Their elation was interrupted by someone calling out to them from down the road, "Lee….Naruto!"

Naruto squinted his eyes at the figure, "Hey…isn't that?"

Lee finished for him, "Yeah, it's Kiba…what's up Kiba?!"

They waited as the Inuzuka boy made his way up to them, and as he did, he answered the bushy brow's question, "Hey guys, I'm looking for Shikamaru, I can smell him, where did he go? And what are you doing hiding under that jacket Naruto?"

The blond answered, "How'd you know it was me?"

Kiba pointed at his nose, "Duh, your scent."

"You saying I stink!?"

"No you idiot, I recognize everyone I know by their smell just as well as the way they look. That's how I know Shikamaru is around here, so where did he go, and what are you guys doing here anyways?"

Lee answered, "A covert op! How about you?"

"I was asked to deliver something to Shikamaru, so is he inside?"

Naruto laughed, "Hahahahaha, OH YEAH, he's inside, hehehe."

Lee laughed right along with him, it peaked Kiba's curiosity, "What's so funny?"

Naruto waved him over, signaling him to come close so he could whisper to him.

Naruto whispered a few words in Kiba's ear.

Kiba nodded.

Naruto said a few more words.

Kiba's eyes widened.

Naruto whispered a few more quiet words to him.

Kiba's face blushed.

Naruto said one or two more whispers.

Kiba pulled away and laughed aloud, it shot pain to the wound in his stomach, but he ignored it, "This I gotta see!"

…

On the opposite side of the village, Two young Kunoichi's had just walked into the Konoha hospital when a group of medical nin's blew by them, a familiar one led the pack, and she stopped at the sight of the two genin, "Sakura and Ino, what are you two doing here?"

The blond girl looked up at the woman, "I'm more interested in what you guys are freaking out about, what's going on Shizune?"

"That fool Naruto disappeared from his room, his condition is far too poor for him to be running around, and he's nowhere in the hospital, so we're headed out to find him! You two haven't seen him have you?"

Ino was about to say something, but Sakura cut her off, "No we haven't; in fact, we had just come to see him!"

Shizune thought for a second before replying, "I see, well, let us know if you see him, he needs to be in bed!"

The pink haired girl waved a hand goodbye to her, "We will."

Shizune nodded then shot off after the group that had already left to search for the yellow haired rascal.

Ino gave Sakura a sour look, "Sheesh, why'd you lie?"

"It wasn't a lie; he was wearing a giant coat that made him unrecognizable, so technically we didn't see him." She finished with a giggle.

Ino sighed as she shook her head, "I suppose your right, he'll only get in trouble if we rat him out…and it's not like he was doing anything bad, he just wanted some ramen…even if he was crazy enough to sneak out of the hospital to do it...I'm sure Shikamaru and Lee will keep him in line…I guess we should just head home then."

Sakura gave the blond a sly grin as she waved a finger in her face, "ah ah ah, you're not getting off that easy, we'll stick around till he gets back, your still gonna apologize to him."

Ino rolled her eyes and mumbled, "…whatever."

The two headed to find a good spot to wait, unaware that the said blond boy was, in fact, up to no good…

…

Shikamaru's heart was pounding, "_Stupid Naruto…can't believe he's making me do this…_"

After making it successfully through the receptionist, he had found himself in the Hot springs changing room, and as soon as he entered, he was surrounded by naked women, "_Oh god_!" He shut his eyes as his face changed to look like a tomato about to burst; he got to an opposite side of the room as quickly as possible, and one thought kept jumping around his head, "Just don't look, just don't look, just don't look."

The thought didn't seem to help, all he could hear was girls giggling, naked girls…

He opened his eyes slightly, and the sight nearly made his nose bleed, he fell back on his ass, and turned around to face the wall so he could change into a robe without having to see the ladies. He felt dizzy, almost sick, "_Get it together man_! _If I lose focus the transformation will revert and that'll be the end of me_!"

He took a few, sharp, labored breaths, and then he, with lightning speed, changed into a robe. He sat back down and started to breath heavy again, when suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder; he jumped out of his skin, "Aahhgh!"

A nearby girl had been changing when she noticed his strange behavior; she walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder as she questioned, "Excuse me miss…are you okay?"

After jumping out of his skin and shouting, Shikamaru's thoughts ran amuck, "_She scared the crap out of me! What the hell do I do? She's right behind me and waiting on an answer…Alright, get it together, you still look like a girl, they don't know it's you._"

He remained seated, but turned around to face the girl, he placed a hand on the back of his head, keeping his eyes closed tight as he replied to the girl, "I'm fine thanks, just feel a bit dizzy!"

The girl in front of him raised a curious eyebrow, "You sure, you sure are breathing hard?"

Instead of answering, Shikamaru's mind was focusing on something else, "_Hey… that voice, I recognize this girl…but who is it_?"

He was jolted from his thoughts when the girl placed a hand on his forehead, seemingly checking him for a fever; he was so surprised when she did it that his eyes flew open, much to his misfortune. This girl was naked! And thanks to his sitting position and her standing one, he was eye level with her breasts! His face merely inches away! He was frozen! All he could manage where a few mumbled, incoherent words, "Ga-ba-ga."

That was it, his face was red and his mind was overloaded, he fell over quite comically and started muttering to himself like a crazy person in an insane asylum.

The girl was freaking out, "Hey! Hey are you okay?!"

Shikamaru had somehow managed to keep up the transformation jutsu, but he wouldn't speak for several minutes.

…

Outside the hot springs, Naruto, Lee, and Kiba had found a tree tall enough to see over the walls and into where the baths were, problem was getting Naruto up in the tree high enough to see. Kiba had managed to climb up and find a solid spot to sit, a huge limb stuck off the tree and gave a perfect view into the bath, he hollered down to his fellow genin, "Packed house tonight guys!"

Naruto shouted back at him, "That's great, but what good is it gonna do me? How the hell am I supposed to climb up there when I can only use my right arm!? Hell I can only get around by leaning on someone!"

Kiba yelled back, "Beats me."

Naruto hung his head, "…just great."

Lee finally took a turn to speak, "You just leave that to me Naruto, I'll get you up there!"

The words brought the blond a bit of worry, "Hold on a second busy broooooowwwwww AHHHHHGGGGGHH!"

As Naruto spoke, Lee had wrapped up Naruto's left shoulder tight and jumped straight up in the air mid-sentence! Naruto screamed the entire flight, while Lee was just the opposite, laughing like a crazy person. The two landed right next to Kiba, and Naruto started complaining, "What the hell bushy brow, what if you had dropped me!?"

"But I didn't drop you."

Naruto growled, "That's not the point."

Kiba interrupted, "Hey you two, turn around and have a look."

Lee and Naruto both looked towards the bath, and both genin's cheeks lit up crimson, and in an instant, they were sitting and watching right along with Kiba.

"This is gonna be a great show."

"All we need now is some popcorn!"

All three started to laugh, and after a few seconds, it faded as the three of them grew silent.

"Hehehehehehe"

There was a weird laugh, and Naruto was a bit spooked by it "_What the?" _

The blond looked to his right at Kiba, he wasn't laughing. He looked to his left; Bushy Brow wasn't laughing….and both of them had the same look, a look that screamed, "What the hell?"

Another laugh rang out, it was creepy and lecherous, "Hehehehehehe"

All three genin realized the laugh was coming from above them, and all three looked up to see Jiraiya with a mini-telescope attached to his face, they all pointed and yelled, "Master Jiraiya/Pervy Sage!?"

The white haired man looked down, "Shut up or we'll get busted you idiots! I'm making amazing headway on my research…ahhehehe…"

All three boys did just that, fully content to watch the antics unfold in silence; they were less likely to be discovered that way!

…

Shikamaru's head had started to clear up, and he could feel someone shaking his shoulder, and a concerned voice was flooding into his ears, "Hey, what the heck, are you okay?"

He looked up at the face of the person who was shaking him, after blinking a few times he realized something, and that's who it was, "_Tenten_?"

His mind was flooded as he suddenly remembered what had happened before he went into a boobie induced coma, he shut his eyes as a horrifying thought hit him, "_Don't tell me…the naked girl was Tenten_?"

Said girl was getting a bit irritated at being ignored, her tone changed to match her attitude, "Are you alright or not?"

Shikamaru was freaking out, "_I've got to answer her…okay, I'm gonna open my eyes and it won't be Tenten naked in front of me, just some random girl I don't know_!"

He stood up, opening his eyes and meeting the girls stare, his suspicions from before being confirmed, "_Oh crap! It IS TENTEN! I gotta get outta here!_"

Tenten snapped, "Hey lady, what the hell's wrong with you!?"

Shikamaru shook his head, ridding himself of the thoughts and spoke a reply, "I'm fine, sorry about that."

Tenten's pissy tone shifted back to a softened one as she rambled on about something or another. Shikamaru wasn't sure what she was talking about, the thoughts in his head were far louder than the words in her mouth, he was screaming advice to himself, _"Don't look Down! Don't look down! Don't look down_!"

Tenten was still rambling on; she had started to pull on some clothes when Shikamaru's face turned tomato red again…

He looked down.

Without another word, he ran past her, making a dash for the door, one way or another he was getting the hell out of there!

Several of the ladies in the room watched as the crazy girl flew out of the room and slammed the door behind her, Tenten included; the bun sporting Kunoichi had a single thought, "Strange girl."

Outside the room, Shikamaru had just slammed the door behind himself, he'd placed his back against it and stretched both arms out against the wall, it looked as though he was trying to hold the wall up, like all the craziness that had just happened was about to attack him and he was gonna keep it out! He was breathing heavy, desperately trying to recompose himself, "_How am I supposed to ever look her straight in the face again!? I need to hurry up and get this over with and get the hell out of here…Screw it, nothing's gonna be more embarrassing than what just happened_!"

He stomped his way towards the bath.

…

Naruto, Lee, and Kiba had been waiting patiently in a tree, chatting about miscellaneous things as the lecherous sage sat giggling in the tree above them. All four had been keeping a keen eye on the bath below, one was lost in the ladies, and the other three where on the lookout for all hell to break loose…the girls weren't a terrible side effect though…

Naruto noticed a familiar girl walk out into the bath; he whispered to his friends, "Psst, look, it's Shikamaru."

All three started to watch him intently, and a certain pervy sage noticed the newcomer as well, "Hehehe, who's this lovely lady!?"

He trained his telescope on her.

…

Shikamaru had lost the robe and got into the bath, there had to be a surplus of thirty women in there with him, but he'd managed to ignore them all and made his way to the middle of the bath, it was all too easy with his superb transformation technique, "_You're gonna pay for this Naruto_…"

He submerged himself in the water.

A pervy old sage had been watching this hottie walk around the bath, and when she went underwater, he took a second to think, "_What a perfect research specimen_," even the thoughts in his head sounded lecherous, "_when she pops back out, I'll take a look down south…_"

Back in the bath, Shikamaru was holding his breath underwater, "_Here we go_!"

He made a hand sign, "_Transform_!" He exploded out of the water.

Jiraiya was happy to see the girl re-emerge, he moved his telescope to look downstairs, but much to his horror, he didn't see any lady parts, but old man parts instead! He was horrified; he'd just got a magnified look at an old man penis! "NOOOOOOOOO, My eyes!"

The three genin sitting below him where laughing uncontrollably at the old man, unable to stop as they looked back down at the scene unfolding below them. Shikamaru had transformed into a chubby, hairy, and very much naked old man before coming out of the water. He just stood there, all of the women in the bath just looking on in shock, no one making a move or saying a word, at least not until Shikamaru did, "I'm a pretty little girl!"

He started hopping around screaming, "I'm a pretty little girl, I'm A PRETTY LITTLE GIRL!"

Women were screaming and flocking for the exit, pulling on robe's and towels while trying to stay as far away from the old creep as possible!

…

The group of genin in the tree couldn't take the humor, Naruto was laughing so hard that he fell out of the tree; he didn't even feel the pain as he continued on laughing. His laughing grew worse when he was nearly trampled by a stampede of women running away from the Hot Springs.

Naruto held the laughter back just long enough to look up from his spot on the ground to see someone standing above him, It was Shikamaru, and he didn't look happy, "Oh Ha ha ha! It's freaking hilarious isn't it, laugh it up while you can, I WILL get you back for this…and when the hell did Kiba get here?"

Kiba and Lee Jumped down from the tree, both wiping tears from their eyes as they held back the chuckles.

Lee shot the chunin a question, "How did you get out of there so fast."

Shikamaru wiped a hand over his face, "That was easy; I just transformed back into a girl and ran out with the mob…"

Lee pouted, "Must be nice to be able to transform...Lucky."

The lazy chunin scoffed, "Yeah right, if you call what I just did Lucky…you have no idea what I just saw in there…" His cheeks turned a bit red, but he shook his head and willed it away.

Kiba wiggled his eyebrows, "Oh, I can just GUESS what you saw in there."

"Let's talk about it later, we should get out of here pretty quick," Shikamaru spoke the voice of reason.

Lee and Kiba both spoke, "Right!"

Naruto was still lying on his back below the three, and he started laughing again.

"What's so funny now Naruto?"

"Ha, Look," He pointed his right pointer finger up towards the top of the tree, and all three of the teens with him followed his train of sight to see Jiraiya still cradled up in the tree, constantly repeated the same phrase, "No more ladies, only hair, no more ladies, only hair."

Shikamaru had a confused look, but Kiba and Lee were well aware of what had happened to the poor old sannin, they burst out laughing again, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Naruto cried out sarcastically, "Poor old pervy sage!"

Just then, they could hear a group of people approaching the area fast, Shikamaru looked at the other three, "We need to get out of here, right now!"

Shikamaru and Lee both hoisted Naruto up, each taking a shoulder, and then all four young Shinobi disappeared into the night, leaving nothing but an empty hot spring and a mental old Sannin in their wake.

* * *

**Whoa nelly! Shikamaru got an eye full! Shall his revenge on Naruto be swift and painful? Will Jiraiya ever come out of the tree? Find out on the next episode of Dragon Bal-WAIT, WRONG SHOW, something got lost in translation...**

**What did you guys think?**

**As always, shoot me those awesome songs please, any genre is great!**

**This chapter was named after a song called Human Error by: We Were Promised Jetpacks (It's about all the stupid stuff people do, make sense now?)**

**Thanks again and take it easy!**


	7. How It Starts

**Well, Here's Chapter 7! A big thank you to all of those who Review or follow my story, there's been a ton! So much obliged, I really appreciate it. This chapter marks the countdown to Tayuya at one more chapter! So If your a huge NarutoxTayuya fan, the groundwork is in and we can let the fun begin! This story is becoming more serious than I had originally intended, It was gonna be strictly humor and Romance with some adventure thrown in, but I've decided to make a really in depth fic! **

**I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter, always wanted to use that in a Naruto fic! XD**

**If you'd like, here's a great song to listen to while you read, Wonder Sleeps Here by: Twin Atlantic**

**Well, the only place left to go is Forward!**

**Italics are thoughts, bold and capitalized words are for emphasis!**

**I don't own Naruto! (disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 7

How It Starts

A shadowy figure slipped quietly across a field, hidden well by the cover of the night, it made its way up to a building that had several floors. After checking to make sure it was alone, it waved a hand in the direction it had come from. At the signal, three more figures shuffled slowly to join the first. Once all four where together, one quickly scaled a wall of the building, all the way up to the third floor. It opened a window from the outside and climbed in. The three still on the ground watched and waited until a hand waved out the window, obviously a sign that the coast was clear. Two of the shadows outside grabbed hold of the third, and then all at once, they jumped from the ground into the open window, and once in, they separated.

"Hospital Infiltration Successful!"

"Damn it Naruto, shut up or we'll get busted, how many times do I have to tell you that!?"

"Sorry Shikamaru…"

The chunin shook his head, "Forget it, just stop yelling, you're giving me a headache….*Yawn*…hey Kiba," Shikamaru looked towards the brown haired genin, "could you hit the lights?"

"Sure," the reply was followed by a click, and the overhead light in the room turned on, illuminating the room and revealing the identity of the four men. Shikamaru stood next to an empty hospital bed, Kiba by the room's door, and Lee had Naruto on his shoulder. Shikamaru helped Naruto pull the huge black jacket he had been wearing off and threw it on the bed, and then Lee helped the blond lay down.

The blond genin hated hospital beds, it wasn't so much the bed itself, but the restricted feeling he had when he lay in one, no training, no good food, and now no moving in general, "This bites, I just want to go home and sleep."

Lee had finished lying him down and threw the blanket over the top of him, "I know how that feels, I only got out of the hospital last week, but it's something that you have to deal with I guess."

The blond rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah….it still sucks though."

Shikamaru gave a sigh as he leaned against a wall next to the bed, "*sigh*, It doesn't help to complain ya know, you DID get to spend the last few hours out of here."

Kiba walked over to join the group, "AAAANNNDD you got to see what may have been the funniest thing I've EVER seen."

Three of the four laughed at the comment, one wasn't quite as amused, he spoke with annoyance, "Yeah…at my expense…ANYWAYS…"

The group stopped laughing and focused their attention back on Shikamaru as he continued talking, "…being here is definantly better for you right now…I mean…you can't even use your legs, and you live by yourself, so you would be stuck with no one to help you eat or go to the bathroom…"

Lee and Kiba nodded in agreement, and Naruto had a look of disappointed realization, "I guess that's a good point…still…I'd rather be somewhere I can get Ramen whenever I want."

The chunin spoke in his usual laid back manner, "It won't be long till you can go…just be happy we didn't get busted today, we'd all be in pain."

As he finished, Shikamaru looked up at the clock, "Well I'm Dead meat."

The three genin gave him a questioning look, and Lee's tone matched his face, "Why's that?"

"It's almost midnight, my mom's gonna scream my ear off for being gone so long."

Kiba remembered the angry woman's words from earlier that day, "I stopped by looking for you earlier, and she WAS pissed you weren't around for dinner."

"Sheesh! I told her I was gonna be go-…."

Before he could finish, someone flung the door to the room open, and all the ninja's in the room that could move scattered to hide as quickly as possible, apt to keep from being discovered.

…

Sakura and Ino had been in a waiting room for around two hours, patiently waiting for Naruto to return. At some point they're idle chatter had switched to a hostile argument, as it often did, and now the two sat on opposite sides of the room with their arms crossed, sour looks on both of their faces.

"What happened to you two?"

Both girls jumped with shock and looked to the source of the unexpected voice, they shouted in unison, "Shizune!?"

The Jonin mocked, "Keep yelling like that and you'll both have a heart attack," she finished with a smile.

Both genin mirrored each other's actions as they hung their heads and sighed, then stood and approached Shizune, the pink haired one speaking first, "So did you guys find Naruto? We've been waiting here since you left and he hasn't shown up."

Shizune started pacing back and forth, arms flailing around wildly as she spoke all flustered, "No we didn't, we checked the ramen shop, his house, the training ground…I mean, what is that boy thinking!" She was irrational, getting comically worked up, and her speech grew faster and faster, "He can't move, what if he gets stuck somewhere, and then it rains….then he'll just get a cold on top of not being able to move, and then that can lead to pneumonia! Then he won't be able to eat whole foods, or leave his house! GAAAAGGHH!"

The two younger Kunoichi's watched in amusement as the woman got overly worked up, she was still rambling on when Ino leaned in towards Sakura, "Now who's the one giving themselves a heart attack."

Sakura lifted a fist to cover her mouth as she giggled, and then refocused her attention on Shizune. The Jonin had finished her rant and was now breathing heavily, an attempt to catch the oxygen she'd just lost. Ino put a hand on Shizune's shoulder, "You alright?"

The black haired Jonin had regained her calm and stood up straight, taking a deep breath as she did so, "I'm fine," just then a thought occurred in her head, "If you'll excuse me."

She left the room without another word, leaving dumbfounded looks on Sakura and Ino's faces. Shizune was now on a direct path towards Naruto's hospital room; her mind was moving a mile a minute, "_Why is that boy so reckless? I just don't get it! He'll end up with a far worse injury if he doesn't rest properly!_"

She only had to travel about halfway down the hall from the waiting room to reach the blonde's room, so she reached it in practically no time at all, but as she approached it, she heard something that was quite irritating…voices, and it pissed her off, "_That brat_!"

She flung the door open to see Naruto lying in bed with his eyes shut, she stormed in, "I know you're awake, there's no use hiding it!"

The blond boy didn't move, and that didn't sit well with Shizune, her eye started to twitch, and she motioned to tower over the bed, "Where did you run off to today, I spent the last two hours looking for you?!"

Naruto opened his right eye and used it to look up at her, the look on her face gave him a jolt, he glanced around the room and noticed his friends had all hid when she entered the room, _"*Gulp*, I'm dead_, _and they all bailed, so I'm the only one that's gonna get it! Not fair_!"

The woman wanted an answer, "Out with it!"

He laughed nervously, and his voice was shaky, he pulled his head up as high as he could get it to answer, "Ahaha, what are you talking about…I've been here all day…"

Naruto could swear that the look she gave him was one that should've only been on a demon's face.

"Okay, fine, I went and got ramen! There, happy?!"

She placed her hands on her hips, "And who helped you?"

"No one, no one at all!"

She gave him a look of disbelief, "You expect me to believe that?"

Naruto started coughing, the coughs were obviously fake, almost painfully obvious, "*cough*, There's something in my throat, *cough*…can't talk anymore."

"Oh I'm sure," Shizune smacked his head and knocked him back down into a lying position, "be still so I can make sure you didn't bust anything else."

She gave him a quick onceover, and then a warm smile grew on her face, much to Naruto's relief, "You seem to be okay, so I'll let it slide…but listen, you have to promise you'll stay in bed till you can move on your own with no pain, okay?"

He wanted to argue, but Shizune didn't give him the chance, she kept explaining in a sincere voice, "Listen, this is the kind of thing that should heal within a week, so why not stay in bed? If you force your body to move when it's like this, you could create an injury that would last a lifetime, and you'd never be able to move properly again…so promise you'll stay in bed."

The blond knew he was defeated; he seemed to have a hard time arguing when a pretty girl was talking to him with a smile, especially when what she said made sense…and arguing usually just lead to him getting pummeled in the face! "I promise I won't leave this bed until I can move right again!"

"Good…I hope all of you heard that as well!"

It was easy to see she was talking to the three others that were hiding in the room, and all three had the same thought, "_How'd she know_?"

Shizune spoke a good night to Naruto and left the room, and as soon as she was gone, the three hidden ninja's came out from their hiding spots. Kiba was the first to speak, "Scary lady, I couldn't decide if she was angry or happy."

Naruto laughed, "Haha, nah, Shizune's nice."

Lee thought the same thing, "I have to agree, it sounded like she was just worried about you Naruto."

"Mmmhmm"

"Hey guys," Shikamaru called for attention, "It's like twenty minutes till midnight, I've got to get home."

Kiba looked at the chunin, "And I've got something to talk to you about, can I walk with ya?"

"Sure…let's go," He turned to leave out the window, and Kiba moved to join him.

As Shikamaru was almost out, Naruto hollered at him, "Hey, Shikamaru."

The chunin looked over his shoulder, "Yeah?"

"Thanks for today."

"Sure thing…and don't forget, you're buying next time…," he finished, waving a goodbye to Lee and Naruto as he leapt out the window. Kiba's exit was similar, he shouted a, "Later," as he disappeared out the window, leaving Naruto and Lee as the only occupants of the dimly lit room.

Lee turned to face the blond, "Hey Naruto?"

"What's up?"

"Mind if I ask you a question before I leave?"

"Shoot."

…

On a far side of the leaf village, three Shinobi unfamiliar to the region occupied a small apartment room. Two of them were fast asleep, and one sat restlessly looking out into the night, completely lost in thought. An outsider would have said he had a faraway look in his eyes, it was obvious he was thinking hard about something, "_So we leave in the morning…I was hoping to stay here a bit longer_…_I wonder_…"

He was pulled from his thoughts as he heard some footsteps approaching him, a voice came with them, "Still awake Gaara?"

The red headed sand nin didn't turn to answer, instead looking out the window as he spoke, "…Kankuro…do you think we'll have time to go speak with Naruto Uzumaki before we leave in the morning?"

Kankuro moved to stand at his younger brother's side, joining him in looking outside, "Probably not…we have to be at the gate at sun up, so as soon as we get Temari up we'll head right over to meet up with that jonin."

Gaara's tone wavered a bit, "…I see…that's too bad."

A smile grew on Kankuro's face as he smacked his brother on the shoulder, "Well, come on, let's go."

The redhead broke his gaze at the sky to look at his brother, "Go where?"

The puppet master turned to go grab his shoes, "To wake up Naruto."

…

Shizune had left Naruto's room and was about to head out when she remembered that she had left Sakura and Ino in a waiting room. The jonin hustled over to the waiting room, and when she entered she found the exact opposite of what was in there the last time. Sakura and Ino weren't irritable with each other, they were lost in gossip instead, the sight made Shizune laugh, "Haha, I see you ladies made up!"

Ino looked up at the Jonin, "Hello again Shizune."

Sakura gave the same greeting, but followed it with a question, "Hello Shizune, so what's up?"

The black haired Kunoichi glanced at a clock that hung on the wall, "Aaaaiiiiieeee, I didn't realize it was midnight! I came to tell you guys that Naruto's in his room…but whatever you have to do, do it fast and head home, I'm sure your parents are wondering what happened to you guys! And I was supposed to report to Lady Tsunade! So I have to go, Bye!"

Shizune made a hasty exit, muttering to herself about how she better hurry up as she did so. After the Jonin had left, Sakura started dragging Ino towards Naruto's room, and she had her there in a matter of seconds.

"Time to apologize."

The blond girl glared at her, "I know, I know."

Sakura was just about to knock on the door, but she hesitated when she heard two people talking inside. Ino seemed to have heard it as well, "Sounds like Lee."

Sakura agreed, "It does…what's he doing here so late?"

"I don't know…"

Both girls put their ears to the door, choosing to eavesdrop before making an entrance.

Inside the room, Naruto looked up at Lee from his lying down position, "So what's your question?"

Lee seemed a bit hesitant, he was trying to fabricate the question into the right words, "Well…it's just that….hmmm…I don't want to pry, but when you fought Sasuke, what exactly did he say…he just seemed so different, his whole aura felt kind of evil?"

A sinking feeling suddenly consumed Naruto, thinking about the fight hurt, but he pushed through so he could answer the question, "One of the things he said was that his days of playing ninja with us KIDS in the Leaf Village were over, pissed me off."

"Well," Lee put a hand to his chin, "It really surprised me…He always seemed standoffish, but I never imagined he'd do something like this…and I'm really shocked he fought against YOU the way he did…you guys seemed like really good comrades, even if you were always at each other's throats…Guy sensei always says rivalry is healthy…"

The heavy feeling that had consumed the blond just grew stronger with his next few words, "I know what you mean…Sasuke said it himself, we weren't just comrades in battle…"

Lee raised an eyebrow and the two ears outside the door listened closely as well.

"Neither of us had admitted it up till then, but Sasuke said it…"

Lee looked at Naruto more intently, "He said what?"

"That we were best friends."

Both girls outside the door went wide eyed, Sasuke never showed anyone any attention, he hardly spoke to anyone, and he never conveyed feelings. The magnitude of Sasuke saying something like that was enormous.

Lee crossed his arms, "I see, never thought he'd say something like that."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Naruto's look shifted from depression to anger, "but after he said it…he said he was gonna break our bond, and he seriously tried to kill me."

"That is psycho Naruto."

"Tell me about it…"

Lee's noticed how upset Naruto looked now, "Well, let's not get you all worked up after such a good day Naruto! You can tell me the rest of it later, when the wounds not as fresh."

"Sure."

Lee gave the classic nice guy pose, "Just remember the result of your bet!"

Naruto's whole demeanor changed, a few stifled laughs escaped him, but they grew to be louder, and after Lee joined in, the whole room exploded with laughter.

"Well, I'm going to head out now Naruto, I'm actually supposed to be staying in bed myself."

"Alright then, go get some rest Lee, thanks for lugging me around."

"Anytime!" Within seconds Lee was out the window and headed home, and Naruto was content to fall asleep.

…

Outside the door, Sakura and Ino were baffled, the words that Naruto had just spoken were hard to fathom. Not only did Sasuke tell Naruto that they were best friends, he had tried to kill him as well. Sakura was on the verge of tears, and Ino could only get out one sad and shock fueled phrase, "Oh my god…"

They stood in the empty hallway for another few minutes, both thinking hard, Ino especially; her actions earlier that day were really eating at her. She reached a hand up and knocked on the door, her resolve to apologize to Naruto had grown. Sakura had regained her composure as well when Naruto's voice called out, "Come in!"

Naruto watched Sakura walk into the room, she was the last person he expected to see at that time of night, it was usually someone like Kakashi or that stupid pervy sage that came to see him in the middle of the night…always interrupted his sleep!

Naruto lifted his head as high as he could from his lying position, "Sakura? What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I brought someone to see you…"

Ino made her way into the room and stepped around Sakura, she poke hesitantly, "Hi Naruto."

He hadn't forgotten what she'd said earlier that day at Ichiraku, and his whole aura suddenly breathed malice, "What do YOU want…?

The blond girl winced as an after effect from the look, it had been a long time since she had felt this guilty about something, and she quickly looked to Sakura for help. Unfortunately said girl was already leaving, she closed the door as she left the room, "Good Luck!"

Ino wanted to scream at her, but instead, she thought what she wanted to say, "_Sakura, you bitch_!"

Ino slowly looked back towards Naruto, but he wasn't looking at her anymore, he had allowed his head to fall back onto his pillow and was staring up at the roof. The action ate at Ino, enough to make her decide to just get it over and done with, so she blurted out what she had come to say, "I'm sorry about what I said!"

"Yeah right," he questioned her motives in his head, "…Sakura make you say that?"

"No she didn't!" She began walking towards his bed, practically pleading to him, "What I said, I was wrong, I've just been really upset about Sasuke leaving! I just blamed you because I didn't want to blame him, I still don't want to blame him! I know it's stupid, and I feel awful about what I said about you. I'm so sorry!"

She was standing right next to his bed at this point, yelling down at him, and Naruto could see the pained look in her face. His angered expression changed, he had a really soft look now, it seemed as

though he was concerned, "I see…so you feel the same way about Sasuke as Sakura does….I'm sorry he did that to you guys…"

Ino gasped at his words.

Ino watched painfully and winced as Naruto started to pull himself into a sitting position, using his functional arm to do so, "OOOOWWWWWWCCH…*pant* *pant*"

His brain was busy calling him and idiot for moving that much, but he ignored it and continued on after he sat up, looking straight into Ino's eyes, "You don't have to worry, I'm dragging him back whether he likes it or not, and about earlier, don't worry about it, I forgive you! I say stupid stuff all the time!"

The goofy grin Sakura had told her about was now shining on his face, and she felt like crying. Not only had he forgiven her for what she'd said about him without a moments hesitation, he'd also said sorry for what Sasuke had done to her and Sakura, when what Sasuke had done to him was far worse! Here he sat, completely wrapped in bandages, and he was grinning despite it all. The emotions were taking hold of her.

Naruto noticed the change, and his face took on its trademark look with his eyes narrowing to the point of fox like slits, "What's with the sad look Ino?"

Tears began to well in her eyes.

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Don't cry!" He threw his operable arm out wide and pleaded, "Seriously, don't cry, it'll be fine! I swear it!"

Ino took the extended position of his arm as an invitation for a hug, and she latched herself around him, tears pouring from her eyes.

Naruto had to keep himself from crying out in pain; she had hit him so fast and wrapped him up so tight that his tattered body was screaming in agony. He took a deep breath and fought through the surges of the pain as he looked down at the girl, she had her face buried in his shoulder. He held onto his soft tone as he pleaded for her to stop, he DID NOT like to see people cry, "Come on now Ino…please stop crying, If I say it's gonna be fine, then it's gonna be fine! Besides…you're getting my shirt all wet."

She realized what she was doing, so she unlatched herself from him and sat up straight on the edge of the bed, "…Sorry about that."

The grin returned to Naruto's face, whether it was cause he was trying to be super nice to Ino, or because she had let him go and the pain had stopped was uncertain, "Ah, don't worry about It, I would have got this shirt dirty one way or another, it's just a few tears!"

She grinned, "Ha…thanks." She closed her eyes and laughed to herself, "_Haha, since when was he so nice_?"

Naruto tilted his head and watched as the girl sat there with her eyes closed, about a minute passed before anyone said anything, and it was Naruto who broke the silence, "You all right now?"

She opened her eyes and her speech was bubbly, "I'm all right, you're the one that's all bandaged up after a-"

Ino froze before she could finish and had a strange look on her face; something seemed to have spooked her, "What's the matter Ino?"

The blond girl held onto the surprised look as she pointed towards the window behind Naruto, "Ummm…Naruto…Who the hell is that?"

"Huh…," Naruto turned to look at where her hand was pointing, and much to his surprise, hovering in the air outside the window was a man he didn't recognize. The stranger had spiky brown hair and a dumbfounded look on his face. All Naruto could do was stare and blink.

The strange man noticed the idiotic look that Naruto and Ino shared, he spoke in a tone that suggested he wasn't the stranger in the situation, "What!?"

The room remained still for a few more seconds…but Naruto had enough of the silence!

"Who the hell are you!? And what the hell are you doing floating outside my window!?"

Ino had to agree, "Yeah, what he said!"

The stranger laughed, "What, you don't recognize me…that's depressing!?"

As he finished, the man hopped into the room, and as he did, Naruto saw that he hadn't been hovering, he'd actually been standing on something. The sight made the knucklehead's thoughts run, "_Wait a second…he was standing on…Sand? Does that mean_!?"

Naruto looked intently at the window, and sure enough, his suspicion was confirmed. Another person appeared riding on a block of sand; he had short red hair and wore a gourd on his back, and Naruto shouted as soon as he saw him, "Gaara!"

The red haired sand nin climbed in through the window, he called back to Naruto as the sand that surrounded him returned to its rightful place inside the gourd, "Hello again Naruto Uzumaki…"

Instead of starting a conversation with Gaara, Naruto gave a pensive stare to the other new visitor, "_Who the heck is this guy…and what's he doing with Gaara?_"

The man noticed the questioning look on Naruto's face, "What, you STILL don't recognize me? That's messed up."

Gaara looked over at the man and his normal deep deadpan tone seeped into his speech, "Quit messing with him Kankuro."

Naruto was shocked, "Kankuro!? You mean the puppet guy!?"

The man now revealed to be Kankuro rubbed the back of his head and laughed, "Hahahaha! Yeah, guess I look different without the ninja get up and the paint!"

"Heck ya you do, I didn't recognize you all, I always kind of expected you to be funny looking though! Thought that was why you wore all that make up!"

Kankuro glared at him, "I'm not really sure if I should take that as an insult or a compliment…"

The room was awkwardly silent for a few moments, but then Kankuro looked over to Gaara, "So, what's the holdup bro?"

Gaara stood silently with his arms crossed, "I was just wondering…what that girls doing hiding behind Naruto."

Kankuro laughed, "Ha! It's probably because we interrupted their lovey-dovey time."

Naruto had forgotten about the blond girl until they brought her up, he turned to look at her, and sure enough she had moved to put Naruto between Gaara and herself, it looked as though she WAS hiding behind him. Naruto was about to ask her what she was doing when Kankuro made the lovey-dovey comment, he snapped back at the puppet handler, "What! Lovey-dovey! It's not like that at all! She just came here to talk, that's it!"

Kankuro gave him a teasing look, and his smart-elecky tone matched it, "Yeah…that's why I saw her hugging ya when I first got here, isn't it?"

Up to this point, Ino hadn't said a word since the two had come in the room, but her thoughts had looked something like this, "Why's that guy floating…wait, did Naruto call that one Gaara? That's the crazy one who tried to destroy the village," at that point, she'd unconsciously moved to put Naruto between the two of them, but her thoughts kept flying, "but they helped on the mission to get Sasuke back…so they can't be all that bad…can they?"

Her last thought was enough to get her out of her head and focused on the current conversation the guys were having, but the first words she heard were Kankuro's lovey-dovey comment, then Naruto's retort. Unfortunately Kankuro had been quick with a comeback, "Yeah…that's why I saw her hugging ya when I first got here, Isn't it?"

Ino's cheeks flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger, she leapt out of the bed in Kankuro's direction, "Shut up! He said it was nothing and he was right!"

Kankuro grinned wildly at her actions; he shook his head, "Ha, if it was nothing…then what's with the blush?"

Ino's eye's nearly popped out of her head, she was like a tea kettle whistling to let you know it was done, "I'm not blushing! Shut up!"

She was right in Kankuro's face, growling while she gave him the meanest look she could muster. Kankuro on the other hand, was thoroughly amused, he was about to push it further when Gaara stepped in between them, "That's enough Kankuro…"

Naruto took the chance to speak, "He's just messing with you Ino, he's that kind of guy…he likes to get on people's nerves."

Kankuro frowned at the comment, "Maaaaan, you two ruined all the fun…besides, it's not like I meant anything bad by it," he smiled down at Ino as he finished.

Ino answered the smile with a glare, "Whatever, I'm out of here," she turned and stomped her way to the door, opening and closing quite forcefully, the sound made Naruto wince, "Thanks, she had just stopped being mad too…"

...

Twenty minutes had passes since Shikamaru and Kiba had left Naruto's hospital room, and now the two were just outside of the Nara family's house. The two had talked about the fight that Kiba had against the sound ninja known as Sakon. Kiba had just about finished explaining when they approached the front gate of Shikamaru's place.

"So in the end, it was Kankuro that killed him?"

Kiba gave a sigh before he answered, "*sigh*, yeah, he really saved my ass too."

The Nara boy yawned as he looked up at the sky, "All five of those sound Ninja's were crazy…the one I fought had a real nasty personality, not to mention the horns..."

The mention of the girl triggered a thought in Kiba's head, "Aha! That reminds me," He fished into his jacket and pulled out some papers that were rolled up and bound by a rubber band, "Here, Master Jiraiya asked me to give these to you, it's the whole reason I wanted to walk with you."

Shikamaru took the documents and unraveled them, the first thing he noticed was the picture of a girl, it only showed the side of her face, but he knew who it was, "What the? This is the girl I fought, why on earth would he want you to give these to me?"

The Inuzuka boy scratched his chin, "I don't know why, all he told me was to give them to you. He also said he wanted you to make a copy of em', and then to give the copy to Naruto…and he also said someone has to sneak the original back into The Hokage's office."

Shikamaru was puzzled, "Really?"

"Yeah…he said not to tell anyone, none of our friends, not our parents, not even the Hokage, but I don't understand what would be so important about it that it had to be a big secret, any ideas?"

The chunin was looking hard at the photo before glancing back up at Kiba, "I honestly don't know, but I'll find out."

"Well, let me know when you do figure something out."

"Sure."

Kiba took that as his sign to head home, "Well, I'm out."

Shikamaru had nodded as a goodbye, and as Kiba disappeared from his view, he looked backed down at the paperwork, his thoughts running ramped, "_This makes no sense…I watched Temari destroy that girl, she literally buried her under an entire grove of the forest…what could be so important about a dead girl…and why keep it a secret…Unless she's not dead after all…by why tell Naruto if that's the case_?"

One troubling thought entered his head, "_Looks like I've got some work to do_…"

An even more troubling thought hit him, "_Looks like I'm not gonna get any sleep any time soon either…Juuust great_…"

The chunin hung his head, and much to his displeasure, set out back towards the center of the Village.

…

Naruto and Gaara now sat alone in a small hospital room; Kankuro had left, setting off after Ino while saying something about how a guy should never let a pretty girl walk home alone in the middle of the night. Though Naruto had a hunch that the real reason he'd left was so that he and Gaara could talk in private, but the room had been silent for a full five minutes. Awkward was a generous description of the setting, and Naruto had enough of it, "So…why exactly did you come here Gaara?"

The sand ninja had been standing silently with his arms crossed when Naruto posed the question, he'd lifted his head to answer, "Well…we're headed home tomorrow…I had hoped to stay here for a while…I was hoping for the chance to sit down and talk with you."

Naruto scratched the back of his head, "I see…well, we can talk now."

"It's just," the read head's tone dropped, "…I'm not good at this type of thing, so I'm not sure what to say…I was hoping I'd have more time to think about it before I had to leave…"

"Ah, I see…well, that's too bad."

Gaara agreed, "…Indeed."

The room fell back into an awkward silence.

Gaara had spent a few seconds thinking, then he let his thoughts drift to words, "I guess for now…"

Naruto gave him his attention as he spoke.

"I just want to say…if you're ever in another fix…just send us word…we owe you a lot."

Naruto smiled, "Alright! Same to you, just holler if you need help!"

"Very well…..It's time I leave and let you rest now."

"Later then Gaara!"

The sand ninja disappeared out the window, and now that he was finally alone again, Naruto let himself lye back down, his body in pain as he did so, "Yeowch! Finally…I can sleep."

He used his good arm to pull his blanket over his head, and thanks to his exhaustion, within a matter of seconds he was asleep. The night passed by without any further hindrance.

…

The first few streaks of sunlight had begun to illuminate a dense forest in the Land Of Fire, yet it didn't grow quite as bright as the previous day, a storm had moved into the area during the night, bringing a biting cold wind, and an even more bitter cold rain. Yet the sun wasn't the only thing to rise in the forest, a group of three ANBU Black Ops had risen right along with it.

"Holy hell! It got cold last night, do we really have to keep looking, I think that girl is long gone boss!"

The man he had questioned looked toward him and spoke through a mask, "No complaints Nobu, I doubt were gonna find anything, but we've GOT to be sure."

"But…I hate the rain…and the cold…How about you Sen?"

The shortest man of the bunch turned to him, "Not really, I've always liked the cold and the rain…at least more than the heat, you can always put another coat on, but you can only take so much clothing off…"

The ANBU known as Nobu sighed under his mask, "But we didn't bring any coats…"

Smack! The group's leader smacked Nobu on the back of his head, "I Said no complaints! Let's get to work, the sooner we finish, the sooner we head home!"

The two other ANBU spoke in unison, "Yes Boss/Sir!"

The three ANBU headed out in search of the missing girl, determined as ever to get the current mission over and done with!

…

Thanks to all his late night visitors, Naruto had only gotten about five hours of sleep when someone started knocking on his hospital room's door. The sound woke him up and he looked around the room groggily as he tried to identify the source of the sound, once he realized it was the door, he called out, "Come in."

A very busty blond woman made her way into the room, "*Yawn*, Morning Naruto."

"Grandma Tsunade! What the heck are you doing waking me up so early!?"

"Pipe down kid!"

"Then tell me what you want Grandma!"

The Hokage looked down at him, "Well…"

* * *

**Well, how was it? Shikamaru's got the papers and things are about to make a leap forward in the plot!**

**I named this chapter after a song called: How It Starts by: The Features (Perfect title considering that the events in this chapter are how the first arc starts! they really set things in motion)**

**As always, I'd appreciate the reviews and your song suggestions, any band, any song, throw em' at me!**

**Take It Easy... **


	8. The Chills, Part 1

**Hey folks, I'm back! First off, thanks to all of you who reviewed, feel free to pm me if you have questions, or even if you'd just like to chat. I'm really grateful and happy thanks to you ladies and gents! Second thing, I decided to break this chapter into two, it's all done, but it's MASSIVE. So I decided it would be easier to handle in two parts, I'll post the second part either tomorrow or the following day!**

**You can expect a lot to read in the near future as long as nothing happens to interrupt my internet service, Ideas are pouring out of me like kool-aid into a sugar addicted child!**

**Well, here we go, on with the show.**

**Italics are thoughts, bold and capital's are used for emphasis.**

**I don't own Naruto, but that's okay, I do own my guitar, and that's enough for me! (Disclaimer)**

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Chapter 8

The Chills, Part 1

A heavy storm had rolled in overnight into the region of the Fire Nation that held the Hidden Leaf Village; it brought a bitter cold air and a frigid rain. Though the sun had risen, it hadn't brought much heat or light on account of the clouds that were currently dampening what seemed to be the entire atmosphere…at least that's what Tsunade had thought as she traversed the wet streets on her way to the Konoha Hospital. She had been on her way to see a certain blond genin, dead set on giving him an earful. She'd made her way swiftly into the hospital and to her desired target; she raised a hand and used the back of it to knock on the door of his room.

"Come In."

The blond woman made her way into the hospital room, "*Yawn*, Morning Naruto."

The genin didn't sit up, he just screamed from his lying down position, "Grandma Tsunade! What the heck are you doing waking me up so early!?"

The Hokage gave a growl, "Pipe down kid!"

"Then tell me what you want Grandma!"

She made her way over to stand above his bed, "Well first off, Stop calling me that!" The bust woman placed her hands on her hips, "Second, A little bird told me you LEFT the hospital yesterday!"

"So what if I did?!"

"Tsk," her right eye began to twitch, "You were under STRICT orders not to leave this room!"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, I know, I already got a lecture and I promised Shizune I wouldn't leave again until I can move on my own!"

Tsunade's aura shifted to a softer one as she stood up straight, "Very good then…and listen, about Sasuke, I don't know what exactly Jiraiya told you, but until the two of you leave to train…you're NOT to go after Sasuke."

Naruto didn't like the sound of that, "What the hell's with that!? As soon as I can move again, I'm gonna pick up the trail!"

The Hokage crossed her arms in front of her chest, and her tone got louder as she spoke, "No you will not! This whole mess is FAR TOO DANGEROUS FOR A GENIN TO HANDLE ALONE! You will accept the missions I give you!"

"Bagh! Of course I can handle it!"

"Sheesh," Tsunade shook her head and placed a hand upon her forehead, "I don't have time to explain all the reasons why you CAN'T handle it…so just shut up and get some sleep, we'll talk about it some other time."

Naruto turned his head to face the window, "Hmph…whatever…"

Tsunade felt satisfied after telling the boy he was on lockdown, so she left the room with haste. After she'd made her way out, Naruto closed his eyes to return to sleep, he had one last thought before he nodded off, "_Stubborn old bat_…"

…

Rain was pouring hard on the Leaf Village's gate as an overly enthusiastic Jonin stood in wait under its broad arch, the three ninja's set to meet him hadn't showed up yet, "I wonder what's taking them so long…I'd like to get this show on the road," a thought popped into his head, "Well if their gonna be long, I might as well find a productive way to pass the time!"

He proceeded to run through several different types of squats, he'd already hit 300 reps when someone interrupted his session, "Guy sensei?"

The bushy browed Jonin looked to the source of the voice and took in the person's appearance, "Hey Shikamaru…you don't look so good."

Not so good seemed to be an understatement, the Chunin was soaked to the bone with cold rainwater and his face showed he hadn't had much rest, it was also evident in his almost sickly tone as he spoke, "Yeah, I've had a long night with no sleep...such a drag…say, you're the one escorting the sand ninjas home, right?"

Guy gave a huge thumbs up, the rain didn't seem to affect him at all, "Ha Ha! You've got that right, I'll get em' there safe and sound…well…that's IF they ever show up!"

Shikamaru shook his head and sighed, everything had to take forever and it was pissing him off, "I see…I'd heard they were supposed to be here at sun up…looks like they got lost…"

Just then a confident sounding female voice shouted from behind the two men, "Who got lost?"

Both Guy and Shikamaru looked towards it to find Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara approaching them, each wearing heavier clothes than usual to ward of the elements; the sight of them brought the already high spirits of Might Guy up to another level, "GRREAT! Let's get this show on the road!"

Kankuro and Temari had the same irritating thought, "_Just great, it had to be HIM that escorts us_…"

They both had a second thought when they looked at the sagging form of Shikamaru, "_He looks like hell…and how is he not freezing to death?_…"

Shikamaru's head was literally sagging when he yawned so loud it made everyone focus on him, "So…why are you guy's so late…I need my sleep and can't get it when people take forever to show up in places."

Temari was the first to answer, "Ha, don't look at me, Kankuro's the one that took forever putting on his make-up, even after I told him the rain would just wash it away…he's like a girl when it come's to that stuff."

The stab got the puppet handler worked up in a hurry, "What!? I'm not like a girl! And who are you to talk anyways? You're a girl and act more like a man!"

The ponytailed girl barked right back, "What did you say!?"

"You heard me!"

They had come face to face, growling and glaring at each other, and they didn't notice when Gaara walked past the two and straight up to Shikamaru, he met the chunin's worn looking gaze with his typical deadpanned face, the redhead crossed his arms "So…what are you doing here, did you have some business with us?"

Gaara's question drew everyone's attention as they all looked towards Shikamaru for an answer, "Yeah," he pointed a finger towards Temari, "I needed to ask her something before you guys left."

Temari hadn't the slightest notion as to what it could be that he wanted, and Kankuro made a sarcastic assumption, he walked towards the gate where Shikamaru, Gaara, and Guy were standing, the puppet handler spoke in a HIGHLY sarcastic manner, "I see, a marriage proposal, good luck buddy…you'll need it, she's quite the crazy and excitable type!"

Said girl snapped at him, "Say what!?"

Before Kankuro could answer, Shikamaru walked past him, Kankuro's last comment didn't change the poor wet chunin's demeanor at all, he just uttered three words as he walked by Kankuro, "Ha…as if."

Temari had been seething towards her smart ass of a brother, so she didn't notice that Shikamaru had already walked several steps behind her, "Hey….Temari….," the blond girl jolted out of her angered state and looked over her shoulder at him as he continued on, "*Yawn*, Could you come over here for a sec?"

The rain had wavered slightly as Shikamaru walked with Temari following until the two were out of earshot from the others, He'd found a tree to stand under, allowing it to serve as a rain block, as he stopped, he turned to face the girl, and she looked at the damped Nara before she questioned him, "So, what's up?"

Shikamaru was too tired to think too much, so he got right to the point, "I needed to ask you a question…you know that Sound Kunoichi you busted up with your fan?"

The thought of her victory made Temari all giddy, "Haha, yeah, what about her?"

Shikamaru gave another loud yawn, "That last attack…you made a direct hit…right?"

"Hell yes I did," The Sand Kunoichi grinned, "it was a direct hit, to top it off, she was crushed by and entire grove of the forest!"

"Hmm," Shikamaru ran a hand through his wet hair, "That's what I thought."

Temari's curiosity hit, "Wait a second Shikamaru…why?"

"No reason really, just making sure all my info was right for the report."

She raised an eyebrow, "Is that REALLY the reason?"

Shikamaru was impressed with the girl's ability to read a situation, "_She sure is perceptive…I've got to sit her down for a shogi match sometime_…," his thoughts drifted into words, "Yeah, that's the only reason."

The blond smirked, "Ha, whatever you say…well let's head back over there then."

Temari turned to walk back to the group but was stopped by Shikamaru, "Hold on a sec," He'd begun to fish through the bag attached to his leg, "I've got something for you."

She watched as he searched, surprise crossing her face, "Something for me…?"

"Yeah," he pulled what looked like a folded up metal stick with some kind of polyester material attached to it, "Here ya go."

Temari took it from him and held it up to her face; she wasn't sure what it was so she was giving it an inspection. After looking it over with no luck, she posed the obvious question, "What the heck is this?"

Shikamaru just smirked, "You really can't tell?"

All he received for an answer was a glare.

"Here, let me see it," He took it back from the girl and proceeded to unfold it, extending the total length of the pole in the process. It now revealed a button in the middle underneath the material and Shikamaru pressed it. With one loud spring the plasticky material shot up and stretched out, it was jet black and bore a Nara clan symbol embroidered on it in white, "See…It's a portable sized umbrella."

It was just big enough to house one person, so he held it out towards Temari until she took it from him, the grin he had on his face was irritating the hell out of her, "I could've figured out what it was on my own you know!" Just then a thought occurred to her, "_Why wasn't he using this…he'd look a lot less pathetic and he'd be dry_."

She spoke the question in an inquisitive tone, "Why the heck weren't you using this? It's pouring down rain…and here you are soaked when you had this on you the whole time."

"Well," he let out a giant yawn, "I had heard that a storm would be coming today…so I grabbed it…but I was outside lost in thought when the storm hit and before I knew it I was already wet…SO I figured it'd be too much work to lug around an umbrella if I was already sopping wet."

She shook her head, "Sheesh, how lazy can you get?"

Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders.

Temari laughed at the action, "haha, too lazy to even answer that question…anyways, why are you giving it to me?"

"The whole reason I grabbed the thing was to give it to ya."

Temari tilted her head, "Huh…why?"

Shikamaru leaned back against the tree they were standing under and crossed his arms, his eyes were barely open as he spoke, "Well, I'd heard about the storm, and I knew you were gonna have to travel through it, so I figured you could use it…and I was planning to come talk to you before you left anyways…so I grabbed it….but it seems Mr. Precious over there could have used it to protect that make up of his, maybe I should have given it to him."

The blond girl giggled at his comments, "Haha, No way I'm gonna let Kankuro use it! Especially not for his girly habits!"

Shikamaru laughed under his breath before deciding it was time to let her get going, "Well, looks like their getting ancy to leave over there."

"Right"

The two headed back towards the group, Shikamaru narrowing his eyes to fend off the rain and Temari wielding the umbrella over her head. Shikamaru stopped a few feet away from the group and Temari rejoined them, as she did, Guy practically yelled, "All ready to go now?!"

The ponytailed girl replied, "Yeah, all set."

"Good," Guy headed out the gate, "Then let's get going."

The three Sand siblings started after him, and as they did, Kankuro turned around and called to Shikamaru, walking backwards as he did so, "Hey, tell the Kid bye for us."

Shikamaru knew he was referring to Naruto, "Sure thing."

Kankuro turned back around, then Temari took her turn to say some final words, she stopped entirely and faced towards the wet Chunin, she lifted the umbrella high enough for Shikamaru to see her entire face, "If you ever need me to come save your ass cause you can't take care of yourself again, just give me a call. Hehe!" She finished with a bright smile.

He was a bit lost for words; the actions of girls always threw him for a loop, "Uh…yeah."

Temari turned and together with the rest of the group, they disappeared quickly over the horizon down the road away from the Village. Shikamaru had stood in the rain and watched until they were out of sight, then he returned to his thoughts, "_Well…What's next_?"

A giant shiver shot up his body, "_First things first, I've got to get where it's warm and dry off_!"

…

Around six hours had passed since the sun had risen over the forest that currently held three ANBU Black Ops members, it was still pouring down rain and they'd been searching diligently through the muck and the mire for their target, but it hadn't proven fruitful, and the leader of the group had finally decided it was time to call off the search.

"Well, Nobu…Sen…It's noon, so that's it, It's time for us to head back to the village…this mission is over."

The tallest of the three was elated, "Finally! It's so damn cold out here, I think I'm gonna build a bonfire when I get back and sleep next to it!"

The shortest man of the group laughed at his carefree attitude, "Haha, I don't know about a fire Nobu, I think I'd rather just go sit in the hot springs for a while…it'll help me get warm…and it should quell my anger."

The ANBU called Nobu tilted his head to the side, "Anger, what for?"

"For this damn mission, my specialty is tracking, and this girl's disappearance is really pissing me off, I just don't get it!"

The squad leader had remained quiet during their little conversation, but decided it was time to step in when he noticed his subordinate was getting worked up, "Don't let it get to you Sen, I don't think even a ninja hound could have been much help…however this girl managed to vanish is something quite impressive."

The short ANBU wasn't really ready to let it go, "I guess so."

An arm suddenly wrapped around his shoulder, it was Nobu, "The Boss is right, you can't let every little thing eat at ya, no one's perfect."

Sen just scoffed, "Hmph."

The leader leapt into one of the many trees that surrounded them, "Well, come on, let's head home."

Nobu and Sen shouted in Unison, "Yes Sir/Boss!"

The three of them began cutting through the wind and rain on a path towards the Leaf Village.

…

Naruto had slept hard through the bulk of the morning, his late night escapades and the even later night visitors had kept him up far later than they should have. Then to top it off, much to his chagrin, He got woke up at a time that he deemed was far too early by The Hokage. Yet fortunately for the blond, the few doctors and nurses that had come in to check on him after that had done so quietly, and he'd slept like a log for the remainder of the morning. It was now noon, and something had begun to wake him up, a heavy chill ran through his body, and he spoke in his sleep, "Cold….like Ice cream…"

An even harder chill hit him, It jolted him out of his sleep, he screamed like a banshee as he curled into a ball, "C-C-C-C-Coooooollllllddd!"

"What the hell is this!?" He reached for his blanket, but it was nowhere to be found! "Where The hell is my blanket, and why is it sooooooo freaking cold in here!?"

He looked around his hospital room frantically, throwing his head back and forth until he spotted something quite irritating, "HUUUH!? Who the hell left my window open!? Baaaaaa-Huh?"

He had stopped mid scream when he noticed his blanket in the floor…but what was even more surprising/angering was what it was wrapped around, "That Lazy Bum!"

Lying on the floor Wrapped up tight with Naruto's blanket was Shikamaru, he had enclosed it to the point of it looking like a sleeping bag and all that could be seen was his jet black hair sticking out towards the front, but the ponytail was plenty enough for Naruto to Identify the chunin, "_That bastard_, _Sleeping like a baby with my blanket while I'm sitting here freezing to death grrrrr_…" the genin's right eye was twitching and he was shooting Shikamaru a death stare. Naruto looked towards the head of his bed, noticing something fluffy and white was missing, he glanced back down at the Nara, "_He even took my pillow_!"

"Shikamaru! Get up!"

The chunin ignored his words, instead mumbling something in his sleep as he shifted into a position that faced away from Naruto's bed, "…No mom…I don't have a mission this morning…"

Naruto's glare hardened as he grabbed a pencil that lye on the desk next to his bed, he rocketed it at Shikamaru's head as he barked, "I'm not your mother ya idiot!"

The strike of the pencil had roused the chunin a bit, he motioned a hand to rub the spot on his head where it had made contact as he groggily looked up in the direction of the window, "What the….what was that?"

"Over here."

Shikamaru rolled over to look for the voice that was beckoning him, once he realized it was Naruto, he posed a question, "Umm…Naruto…what are you doing in my bedroom?"

Naruto leapt out of his bed, "What the heck are you talking about!? We're not in your bedroom; we're in MY hospital room! And YOU STOOOOLLLLE my blanket!"

"What the…," Shikamaru rubbed his right forearm against his eyes as he took in his surroundings, realization hit as he remembered the events that led up to his current whereabouts, "…that's right…almost forgot."

"Forgot what?!"

"*YAWN*, That I fell asleep on your floor."

"What? I could care less about your bad memory; I wanna know who the hell left my window open, and why you took my blanket!"

Shikamaru ignored Naruto's crazy worked up form, he let out another sleepy yawn, and spoke in an equally drowsy voice, "…I left the window open."

"Why the hell would you do that? Look at the storm that came in!"

"Well," the shadow wrangler scratched his head then explained slowly, "I came in through the window, but the damn thing got stuck…I was waaay too tired to even try to fight the thing, so I just left it alone…I was soaking wet and my clothes were filthy…so I borrowed this room's shower…then I came back in here and strung my clothes up to dry," he pointed a finger towards the corner of the room farthest away from them, Naruto looked over and sure enough, Shikamaru had run a chord across the room and his flak jacket, undershirt, and pants were hanging from it. Naruto looked back towards the chunin as he continued on, "I came over here to take a nap and you weren't using your pillow, so I snatched it...but I couldn't sleep in just my boxers…it was way too cold for that, so I borrowed your blanket."

Naruto pointed a hand down at him angrily, "So you thought it would be better for ME to freeze instead!?"

"I covered you up with my dad's jacket that I left in here last night, you must have thrown it off or something Naruto."

"A jacket!? So you steal my blanket after breaking my window, then just throw a jacket on me!?"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, "Uh…yeah…sorry bout that, I get loopy when I'm sleepy…but enough about that…Since when were your legs working, you couldn't stand by yourself last night?"

"Huh?" Naruto hadn't noticed thanks to his tirade, but he glanced down and sure enough, he had stood up when he started yelling at Shikamaru, "Your right! Hehehe," he started jumping for joy, completely forgetting about the temperature of the room and the reasons why he was angry, "There's no pain at all in my legs!"

Shikamaru shook his head, he felt a mix of surprise from how much Naruto's injuries had come along overnight, and irritance at how annoying the blonde's current actions were, "Ridiculous…Listen Naruto," the blond gave the chunin his attention, "I didn't get to sleep last night after I left here, I had to do some work for Master Jiraiya…"

Naruto didn't interrupt, but he couldn't help but think, "_Pervy Sage made him work…I wonder what for_."

Shikamaru had been carrying on, "If you look by my clothes, my ninja tool bag is sitting over there…inside of the bag there's some documents that Jiraiya asked me to give you…I'll explain all the details later…for now, I'm going back to sleep, I only got about two hours…I need more, *yawn*…oh, and Jiraiya said not to tell anyone about the documents…Not even the Hokage, so keep your trap shut about em'…"

Before Naruto could utter a reply, the chunin was already fast asleep again on the floor, the haste in which he fell asleep put a sour Look on Naruto's face, "_Sheesh, all he does is sleep_," the blond looked towards the open window, "_Guess I should try and get it unstuck_."

He had stepped over Shikamaru and went to put his hands on the window when he realized his left arm still didn't want to move, "_Damn…guess the left arm still isn't working_," suddenly a gust of wind shot in, blowing the icy falling rain onto him, "Cold!"

He used his right hand to grab the base of the window, and thanks to what Shikamaru had said, he was expecting it to be hard to close, so he gave it an aggressive pull, but there was no resistance, and the damn thing slammed shut! He shot a disgusted look at the sleeping chunin, "_That lazy bum must not have even TRIED to shut it! Bah…I wonder what the hell it was that Pervy Sage wanted him to give to me_…"

The genin stomped his way across the room and grabbed Shikamaru's tool bag. He ripped it open using his right hand and his teeth, then sat it down on a small table that rest in the corner of the room. He shifted a few Kunai out of the way until he saw the papers wrapped up and bound by some twine, "Aha! Gothca."

He made his way back to his hospital bed, grabbing the jacket Shikamaru had aforementioned off of the floor, he pulled it on over his lame arm, and then slid the good arm through as he took a seat on the bed. Once settled he opened up the paperwork, and his first thoughts were spoke aloud, "What the…this is that crazy Sound girl with the weird hat! Why the heck did Pervy Sage want me to have this?"

He thought for a few minutes about it, but nothing came to mind, "_I'm stumped…and it looks like Shikamaru's not getting up anytime soon…well, I know what will clear my head…some Ramen…hehehe_"

He pulled the hood of the jacket over his head, and then he walked over to the window and made off into the rain, leaving Shikamaru sleeping on the floor in a quiet hospital room behind him.

…

It was lunch time in Konoha, but unlike typical days, the restaurants weren't as flooded as usual, the heavy storm had kept many people holed up in their homes. Out of the few people moving about, one pink haired young girl in particular was lost in thought, she was walking and thinking hard as she held an umbrella over her head to ward off the rain. Her scattered thoughts had finally settled into one, "_It's decided…I'm leaving tonight…_"

She'd stopped walking when a familiar smell hit her, she turned to look at the building that the aroma was seeping from, "_Ichiraku huh….that reminds me…I better go see Naruto._"

She left in the direction of the hospital, if only she'd known the person she was planning to see only sat a few feet away from her, she could have saved some time. Naruto had clouded his presence with a large black jacket, snuck out of his room, and was now happily stuffing his face with his second bowl of ramen. The genin was ecstatic as he boasted, "Ha! I always tell those doctors that the only thing I need to heal is Ramen and a good night's sleep! But do they listen to me? Of course not, bunch of idiots!"

"*cough!* *Cough!*"

Someone had let out an attention securing cough from behind the blond right as he finished his harsh comments…and it sent a chill up his body. Naruto turned his head around ever so slowly, and he found someone he didn't want to see when he did so, "Hahaha…Hi Shizune…Care for a bowl of Ramen?"

She ignored his question, "So, we doctors are idiots are we?! Hmmm!?"

Terror flew across the genin's face.

Shizune slammed some money down on the counter next to him, it made him jolt out of his chair, "Here, this should cover his check!"

Old man Teuchi smiled brightly, he was far too used to these types of situations when Naruto was around to break his typical laid back character, "Thank you and come again!"

Shizune smiled back at the man, "Sorry for the trouble," she looked back down at Naruto, and her face returned to one that resembled what fury would look like if it was a person, "As for you, you're coming with me!"

The Jonin put a full fist around the jacket he was wearing and dragged him out of the shop, and with her target acquired, she made for the hospital.

…

Tsunade was a bit more laid back than usual, her fiery temper was stanched by the hefty amount of alcohol she had snuck into her office that morning, she'd slipped a sip of it every time she'd been left alone, and she was pretty damn buzzed. Well…Buzzed was generous, she'd consumed a bit too much, so much so that she'd passed out in her chair, her face planted upon the desk…drooling all over the paperwork she was supposed to have finished a week prior. She was so far gone that she didn't notice the three rain soaked ANBU members that had entered the room and were arguing over who should try and wake the sleeping tyrant.

"You owe me Sen, so you do it."

The shortest of the three men glared at him from behind his mask, "Since when did I owe you anything Nobu?"

"Well Sen, You were born so short, and I was born tall, so I naturally cast shade for you so you don't have to stand in the sun all the time."

"What!?" The short man was mad, the kind of anger that was typical of a short guy being made fun of, "So what if I'm short, I'm three…no…I'm four times smarter than you, and you owe me...Thanks to me, you seem more intelligent just by being in my presence!"

It seemed as though lighting was being conducted between the two as they exchanged glares, both growling and waiting for the other to give in. Their squad leader had just been watching the two with a grin on his face, but the smile faded when his two underlings stopped glaring at each other, and both looked at him, they seemed to have the same idea at the same time. They both forcefully pointed at him and snapped out the same phrase, "You do it Sir/Boss!"

"Huh…why me!?"

Sen crossed his arms, "Cause last time we were here, you made the Hokage angry, then ran off and left the two of us to die."

Nobu mimicked the position his comrade held, he crossed his arms and looked down at the man he called Boss, "That's right, you buried yourself Boss."

The Boss scowled at the two men as they snickered from under their masks, "Whatever, move!"

Nobu and Sen stepped out of the way and extended their arms like butlers escorting a man to a room. The Boss gave a sour look to their actions as he walked between the two and approached the Hokage's desk slowly. He'd inched in and reached across the desk, placing a hand on Tsunade's shoulder and gave her a shake, "M'lady! Wake up!"

She didn't move.

He shook her harder.

She mumbled something and returned to her comatose state.

He grabbed both her shoulders and shook her like a rag doll, her head flying back and forth, "Damn it! Wake up Lady Hokage!"

All at once she grabbed his hands, slammed em' down on her desk so hard it cracked the wood and made him yelp in pain, and then she screamed at him, "Didn't you hear me, I said either get me some more Sake or get the hell out!"

The head ANBU had shut his eyes to brace for the impact of her fist that he was sure would be coming next, but when the strike didn't come, he peeked one of his eyes open…and was flabbergasted with what he saw. She'd just fallen right back asleep! The fright left and it was as if his entire being breathed a sigh of relief. He took a few steps back, then started to speak to his subordinates as he turned to face them, "Looks like I'll have to write out the report and come give it to her later tod-…..Those little! I'll kill em'!"

His men had fled as soon as the Hokage went berserk on him, and he wasn't happy about it, he ran out of the Hokage's office hollering like a madman, "Oh Seeeeennnn! Noooooobuuuu! Where'd ya go! It's time to Die!"

He was on the hunt, and nothing would save his prey.

…

After Naruto's undercover mission to infiltrate Ichiraku was foiled by Shizune, the Jonin had dragged him all the way back to his hospital room and had him bound to the bed by a hoard of ropes and restraints. She'd been sure to lecture him thoroughly about how he broke his promise to stay in bed, but when Naruto pointed out that the promise he made was not to stay in bed for the week, and that it was actually to stay in bed until he could move on his own, he was sure the lecture would stop. It instead earned him a slap to the head and a concerned speech about how he may feel great but he still wasn't healed fully. The sappy speech made him decide to withhold the info that his left arm still wasn't working right, he didn't want to get her more worked up than she already was!

Shizune had finally finished and left the room…somehow she never noticed the sleeping form of Shikamaru, he'd been lying in the same spot for the past few hours, right in the middle of the floor, yet no one noticed him, and it made Naruto laugh when he looked down at him, and the genin thought aloud, "Haha, How can he sleep through all that commotion…and how did no one notice him? Hehe"

"It's because Of how tired I was…"

"What…," Naruto was a tad startled when the Chunin spoke to him from within his pallet, but he shook it of almost instantly, "So your awake now Shikamaru?"

The Nara answered by throwing the blanket off of himself, then he pulled himself into a sitting position, letting a sarcastic comment escape his lips in the process, "Well, THAT'S obvious isn't it."

Naruto mimicked him in a girly voice, "Well, That's obvious isn't it. Hmph!"

Shikamaru wiped a hand over his face and yawned, "Up for thirty seconds and you're already being annoying."

Naruto barked back, "You started it…"

"Whatever Naruto."

The room was silent for about ten seconds, but then Naruto shouted something that crossed his mind, "Hey, what's up with those papers you gave me…it's that crazy Sound girl…you said you'd explain after you got some sleep?!"

"Sheesh, keep your voice down idiot," Shikamaru stopped his reply long enough to grab a chair and pull it up to the head of Naruto's bed, but before he sat down he asked, "Where's the papers at?"

"Right pocket of your Dad's Jacket, It's hanging behind the door over there," he nodded his head in the jacket's general direction.

"Gotcha," Shikamaru walked over and retrieved the roll of papers out of the pocket, he moved back to the bed and sat down in the chair he'd pulled up, "Alright, I'll tell you all I know."

Naruto watched intently as the Chunin unraveled the sheets and began to speak, "So Kiba walked with me when we left last night…turns out Jiraiya had taken the original copy of these from the Hokage's office and gave them to him…He told Kiba to give em' to me, have me make a copy, give YOU the new copy, and to sneak the original back into The Hokage's archives…even said we had to keep it secret from everyone…so only you, me, Kiba, and Jiraiya know about it and we have to keep it that way…Got all that?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but what I don't get is why he would want me to have these in the first place."

Shikamaru leaned forward into a slouching position, "Yeah, I thought the same thing…It doesn't make any sense…I watched Temari Kill that girl, so what's so important about a dead girl? I found out that ANBU were already dispatched to retrieve all the fallen Sound Ninjas anyways…so it's not like the body is gonna disappear or anything, it's an open and shut case…I thought maybe the girl could have survived or something, so I went to the gate this morning and double checked with Temari before that group headed home. She made direct contact and buried her in an entire GROVE of the forest…so there's no way she could be alive…and even if she was…why tell you? Hell, if she's dead for sure, why tell you? I don't get it…how bout you, any idea why he'd want you to have this?"

Naruto's mind was drawing a blank, "Nah, I don't get it either."

Shikamaru stood up from his chair, "It's strange," the chunin glanced at the clock that hung on the wall, "Well Naruto, I still only got a few hours' sleep…but it's already two o'clock…so I'll leave you to think on all this mess with Jiraiya while I go check on Choji and Neji…we can do more research on all this later."

Naruto nodded in approval, and then he shifted as much as he could, being bound as he was, "Sounds good, if you get to see either of them, tell em' Hi for me!"

"Will do," Shikamaru handed the documents of the girl back to Naruto, "Alright, I'm off."

"Later then," Shikamaru had just turned away when Naruto stopped him, "Hey, think you can do me a favor while you're out Shikamaru?"

The Nara looked back down at him, "What is it?"

"Could you PLEASE sneak me something good to eat in here!?"

"HA! I'll see what I can do," Shikamaru waved a mock salute and headed towards the door. He'd taken a step into the hallway when Naruto screamed frantically towards him, "SHIKAMARU, STOOOPP!"

Shikamaru reacted to the yell as if there was something seriously wrong, he jumped back into the room, "What!? What's wrong with you?!"

Naruto pointed a hand at him, "THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH ME, YOU WERE ABOUT TO HEAD OUT INTO THE HOSPITAL WEARING NOTHING BUT YOUR BOXERS!"

The Nara's eye's grew wide as he looked down and realized he'd never got dressed after he'd woken up, his clothes were still hanging up in the corner of the room! "Sheesh, good save Naruto…still, getting dressed is so much work right after you wake up…what a drag."

Naruto gave the chunin a look of disbelief, "You're really gonna complain about having to put on clothes, geez, just how lazy can one guy be?"

Shikamaru just shrugged his shoulders as an answer, and then he made his way over to the spot where his clothes were hanging, he pulled his pants off and pulled them on, then followed suit with his shirt, and he topped it all with the flak jacket he'd started wearing after he'd become a chunin. He spoke a final goodbye to Naruto as he tied his tool bag to his leg, "Alright, NOW I'm off."

It took the chunin a matter of seconds to exit, and once he did, Naruto lifted the documents on the Sound ninja to his face, and he focused hard on the girl's picture, "_So Pervy Sage…what's going on_?"

He hadn't had much time to think when someone knocked on the door to his room, he reacted quickly by shoving the papers he'd been holding under his butt, then he called out, "Come in!"

The door opened and a familiar girl walked inside.

"S-Sakura?"

She looked down at his bindings before she spoke, "Hi Naruto."

"Hey, Don't worry Sakura! As soon as I get out of here I'll get to work, I'm still gonna keep my promise!"

The pink haired Kunoichi shook her head, "No Naruto."

He tilted his head, "Huh…what do you mean?"

"I've been relying on you too much Naruto."

Naruto looked directly into her eyes, "Are you mad at me or something?"

Sakura smiled at him, "Far from it, In fact, just seeing you has made me even more than I was before…"

The look on Naruto's face matched his thoughts, she was speaking in riddles, and he was a bit confused, but she didn't give the opportunity to inquire any further. She walked back to the door and opened it back up, but before she left, she looked back at him, "You may have to wait for me for a while, but it's time I start carrying my own weight."

She left the room immediately after she finished, and Naruto kept his gaze fixed on the door, his brain was starting to process what her scattered actions were hinting at, "_She can't really be thinking about taking off, could she_?"

Suddenly a loud bang erupted from the direction of his window, Naruto jolted his head to see yet another visitor to had come into his room, it was an old man with long white hair, "Hey kid, I heard you snuck out, looks like they've got you all tied up now!"

The sight of the man always made a grin cross the genin's lips, "Hey Pervy Sage, What's up!?"

"Well," the Sannin crossed his arms in front of his chest, "I figured since you were able to sneak out, you'd be apt to start training!"

Naruto's tone got a tad softer, "About that…do you mind if we put off the training…just for a little while?"

"What for kid?"

"Well, I've got a few odds and ends to take care of before I leave for such a long time ya know?"

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow, "A few odds and ends?"

"Yeah"

Jiraiya uncrossed his arms, "Alright then, just let me know if you need help with anything, I am your teacher after all, it's my job to assist you in your endeavors! But as for right now, hehehe, It's time for research! Later Kid!"

The Jonin was already long gone when Naruto realized something he should have remembered when the old man was present, "AHHGHH, I should have asked him about that girl from the sound!"

The blond let his head fall back down upon his bed, his mind was already overloading with thoughts.

…

After leaving Naruto's room, Shikamaru's hopes to see his best friend had been squashed right along with his plans to check up on Neji, a snooty male nurse working the computer at a nurse's station had been the one to upheave his plans when he informed the chunin that they still couldn't have visitors. After learning about it, he'd decided to move to his second order of business, and that was to sneak some food into the hospital for Naruto, so he'd shot home through the rain to grab a jacket and a few items that were now hidden in a box carried under his left arm as he walked back into the Konoha Hospital. He'd just made his way into the first floor lobby when a small boy with black hair came crashing into him, causing both Shikamaru and the kid to fall down.

"Ouch," Shikamaru stood back up and extended a hand down towards the boy, "Are you alright kid?"

The boy took his hand, "I'd be alright…," the boy pulled himself up and finished his sentence by screaming in Shikamaru's face, "If you'd watch where you're going! And why are you so wet!?"

Shikamaru completely blew off the boy's angry tone, "I'm wet cause it's raining…Hey, don't I know you Kid?"

The boy took a step back, "Hey, You're the boss's friend…Shikamaru right?"

"Yeah, That's me."

The kid flashed a toothy grin, "Well, Any friend of the boss is a friend of mine! I'm Konohamaru; it's nice to meet ya!"

Shikamaru scratched the back of his head, "I see, that explains where I know you from, Your Asuma's nephew, so what are you doing here?"

Konohamaru answered with a classic pouty tone you'd expect from a kid his age, "I came to see the Boss!"

Shikamaru shook his head at the youngster, "That doesn't clarify anything, WHO is this person you keep calling boss?"

"Huh? I thought you knew him, it's Naruto!"

"I see…wait…why the heck would you call NARUTO the boss?"

Konohamaru thought for a second, and then answered, "It's kind of a long story."

Shikamaru sighed, "Whatever…say…you're headed to see Naruto anyways, would you mind delivering this to him?" He handed the box he was carrying towards the boy, "I've got some stuff to do, it'd be a big help if you could take it to him."

Konohamaru took the box, "No problem, leave it to me!"

Shikamaru was just about to warn Konohamaru not to shake the box around, but the kid was already running up a stair well headed towards Naruto's room, "_Ah, oh well, I'm sure he won't break it or anything…guess I should head back home…my mom's gonna scream my ear off for not coming home last night…what a drag_."

He turned and left the hospital, straight through the storm and right into the lion's den.

* * *

**Well, how was it? Let me know!**

**You should all be really excited about the second half of this chapter...hint...something happens...It starts with a T and rhymes with boo-ya! **

**I named this chapter after a song called The Chills by: Blue October!**

**As always, pm me or review with your song suggestions, I love to discover new music from every genre!**

**Thanks and Take it easy!**


	9. The Chills, Part 2

**So, here's the second part of the Chills, wasn't too long, yes?**

**Figured I'd answer a few questions, **

**dbzotrum9: Music was awesome, I already knew Karma chameleon, but I hadn't heard Mister Magic...It's awesome, and about Shikamaru and Temari, I don't know yet...the idea doesn't seem that far fetched to me, distance doesn't matter if your truly in love...but like I said, I don't know what I'm gonna do yet!**

**serialkeller: Patience my friend! Like I said before, this story is gonna be long! Though I think your gonna be happy...so yeah...big hint...**

**NamikazeGod: No worries my friend, Tayuya isn't an Uzumaki...you must be thinking of Karin.**

**Want a good song to listen to guys, try The Audience by: Akeboshi**

**Anyways, I'm gonna wrap up this typing, my roommate left town and his incredibly annoying alarm clock is going off in his room, now I've got to go break in and smash the damn thing!**

**So, Italics are thoughts, bold and capitals are for emphasis.**

**Bet you can't guess whats next...yeah, its the disclaimer.**

**I don't own Naruto. (disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 9

The Chills, Part 2

…

When Konohamaru blew into Naruto's room, he'd been the last person the blond had expected to see, but it brought a smile to Naruto's face just the same, "Hi Konohamaru, what are you doing here?"

The black haired boy shifted the goggles he wore up farther into his hair, "I came to see how you were doing boss, and that guy Shikamaru asked me to give you this box," he lifted the box above his head, "Wait a sec, why are you all tied down like that?"

"Cause stupid Shizune tied me down."

"Hold on a sec Naruto," Konohamaru approached Naruto's bed and placed the box down on Naruto's lap, then he reached into a hidden pocket on his person and pulled out a Kunai Knife, "its super sharp!"

Naruto gave a quick reply, "Well that's great, but whatcha gonna do with it?"

"Watch," Konohamaru disappeared under the bed, then a loud snap rang out and the ropes that bound Naruto's upper body loosened up. Konohamaru emerged from under the bed, "Hehehe, your legs are still tied down, but I cut enough for you to sit up! I'll tie it back together before I leave!"

Naruto sat up quite forcefully, and began stretching the muscles that had grown stiff, "Thank you Konohamaru! I hate being stuck in one position…So what's in the box?"

"I don't know, Shikamaru just asked me to give it to you."

Konohamaru watched curiously as Naruto used his operable arm to pull the box in close to his chest, he opened it up and its contents made him grin wildly, "Yes! Shikamaru's the best!"

The curiosity was eating at Konohamaru, he jumped up and down like…well…a kid, "What's in it!?"

"Check it out," the blond started pulling things out of the box, first was an apple, then a giant carton of milk, but the last few objects are what got Naruto the most excited, they were a small bottle of water, a set of chopsticks, a small pot, a single burner portable stove, and to top it off, two packs of instant cup ramen! Naruto giggled like a crazy person, "HEHEHEH, Oh sweet Ramen!"

Konohamaru's eyes lit up, "Wow, he really hooked you up Naruto!"

Naruto was all giddy, "HEHEHEHE, I know! Hey, you know how to use this stove Konohamaru?"

"Kinda."

"It's really easy; think you can make me some Ramen?"

"Yeah!"

With that, Naruto began giving instructions on the art of instant cup ramen, "First, take this burner and plug it into the outlet over there," he pointed Konohamaru towards a small table that sat near the front of the hospital bed.

Konohamaru nodded and carried out the action without a word, he pulled the table out far enough to plug the burner in behind it, and once he had it in, he laid the mini-stove on the surface, then he shifted the table back to its original position, "Next!?"

The older of the two knuckleheads commenced with further directions, "Now, take this small pot," he handed it to Konohamaru, "And this water," he passed the bottle over as well, "Put the pot on the stove, fill it up with the water, then turn that thing up on high, all we have to do is wait for it to boil after that!"

"You're right, this is easy boss!" Konohamaru followed Naruto's directions to the letter, and in just a few minutes, the water was already rolling in the pot, "Pass me the Ramen cup's boss!"

Naruto ripped the plastic seals off of them and passed them over eagerly to Konohamaru, "Thanks again for the help, couldn't have done it without ya!"

Konohamaru had already poured the boiling water into the individual cups, "AH, It's no big deal!"

The three minutes that Naruto hated most passed a little quicker this time, mainly because Naruto busied himself eating the apple Shikamaru had included in his meal, but it could have also been the fact that the blond was still trying to wrap his head around the actions of his teammate and the craziness of his Sensei. Yet his seemingly aimless thoughts were halted when a cup of ramen was dangled in front of his face, he launched the apple core he had devoured across the room into a trash can and practically ripped the ramen out of Konohamaru's hands, "Thank you Mr. Chef!"

Naruto grabbed the chopsticks that lay on his lap and began inhaling his Ramen. He stopped for a moment when a thought hit him, "Hey, Konohamaru, why aren't you eating, you can have the second pack of ramen you know."

Konohamaru shook his head, "But that's Yours Naruto! I can't take your Ramen!"

Naruto's brow furrowed, "I want you to have it, you made it all, you deserve it!"

Konohamaru was about to tell him no again when a familiar voice spoke from the direction of the door, "You should take it; Naruto doesn't just offer his Ramen to anyone!"

Both young boys looked at the man, he had a scar across his face, tan skin, and his hair up in a ponytail…they both yelled in surprise, "Iruka-sensei?!"

The older man smiled brightly, "Hey guys!"

Naruto took another huge bite of his Ramen and questioned his first teacher with his mouth full, "so…whasshh…uupp Irruka, shenshei?"

"Sheesh Naruto! Don't talk with your mouth full! It's impolite!" The two boys just stared at him blankly, so Iruka took the opportunity to state his purpose for his entrance, "Anyways, I came to find Konohamaru! He SNUCK OUT OF CLASS…AGAIN!"

The words struck fear into the goggle clad boy, but his level of fright increased when Iruka stomped across the room towards him, he just knew he was about to be pummeled! Konohamaru ran around the bed and put Naruto in between himself and Iruka, then peeked his head around Naruto's shoulder to see what his sensei would do next. Much to his surprise, Iruka hadn't leapt out to grab him, he'd instead grabbed a chair and taken a seat right next to Naruto's bed and begun to speak in a carefree tone, it shocked the hell out of the youngster, "I'll cut you some slack this time Konohamaru, I sent everyone home early on account of the storm…so it's no big deal, but DON'T skip again! Just be glad you're part of the younger group, the older kids got sent out on a survival mission, we thought it would be a good test, see how well they handle themselves in weather like this!"

Naruto laughed, "I remember the good old days of working hard at the Academy…so nostalgic!"

Iruka raised an eyebrow as he scoffed, "Hmph! I remember you skipping class all the time!"

Naruto wanted desperately to protest, but he found no grounds for argument, he just hung his head in defeat, and the action made both Konohamaru and Iruka laugh.

Iruka finished laughing, and as he did, he snagged the uncooked cup of Ramen that was sitting on the table next to Naruto, he held it high, all in order to taunt Konohamaru, "Well Konohamaru, If You aren't gonna eat it, I WILL!"

"No! I'll eat it!"

"Too late!"

…

The Konoha Hot Springs were nearly void of customers, the word had spread about the old man who'd ran around Naked in the women's bath a day before, he had already been dubbed "THE FLASHER" by the people who had seen him, and now people were staying away. To the folks who owned the springs, it was an unwelcome change, they were losing business, but to two ANBU Black Ops members who had arrived right as the sun began to set, it was great to have the baths to themselves for a change, they didn't have to worry about protecting the identities under the masks, they could speak and act freely. The two men had already spent an hour in the water, completely silent, and completely relaxed. Now that they were getting pruned, one of them had an idea.

"Hey Sen?"

"Huh? What's up Nobu?"

Nobu sat up in the water, "This water is great and all, but we've been in here for a while…whaddaya say we go have some Sake?"

Sen really wasn't much of a drinker, but something about the idea sounded like it was just what the doctor ordered, "You know what Nobu…that actually sounds good right now."

Nobu jumped to his feet in excitement, fully showing his stark naked body, "Really!? You never drink with me! This is gonna be great!"

Sen turned and grabbed a towel that lay behind him, he hit Nobu in the face with it, "Damn man, put that on, I don't want your junk waving in my face!"

Nobu wrapped the towel around his waist, and Sen followed suit, grabbing a towel of his own, "I've got one condition if I come drinking with you though."

Nobu stepped out of the bath, "Name it."

"You're buying."

…

It didn't take long for night to consume the village after Konohamaru and Iruka had left Naruto alone in his room, after all, the three sat and talked/argued about random things for several hours. Now that Naruto was alone and the room had darkened, his thoughts had begun to meander; he'd first thought about the girl whose name he didn't know, but face he'd remembered, "_That Sound Kunoichi…let's see…she had a loud mouth…red hair…a fairly pretty face…and looked just as angry as every other girl I talk to…even as angry as Sakura gets…scary…Wait a second, Sakura," _his remembered the little visit she'd paid him earlier, "_That reminds me…what was it she said…that she's been relying on me too much…makes me think…could she be planning what I think she is_…," His thoughts escaped his lips, quite loudly, "I can't take that chance!?"

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't bust out of the hospital just yet, he still had one problem, the ropes that were binding his legs, "Well this isn't gonna be easy…at least Konohamaru left the top half undone earlier, well…here goes nothing."

Naruto took a bit of the ropes in hand, he pulled them as hard as he could, expecting it to take a lot of effort to tear them, but much to his surprise, they gave no resistance, in fact, they weren't connected at all anymore, just looked like it. He pulled the end of the rope up to his eyes and immediately noticed that they'd been cut, "Looks like I owe Konohamaru big time, he must have cut these before he left!"

The blond flew out of bed and ran to the window, within a matter of seconds he was already long gone from the room.

…

The storm that had been raging all day had finally let up a bit, the sky was still flooded with clouds, but the rain had subsided when Sakura had filled her backpack full of the things she would need. She'd also filled her soul with the resolve to leave, and she was sneaking her way through the trees on the way to the Village Gate, taking advantage of the night and the empty streets. She'd come to the very last tree before the gate, so she descended to the ground. She turned to take a final glance at her home, a sad look consumed her face, "This may be the last time I'll ever see it…" She hung her head for a second, then turned and began walking towards the gate.

"Sakura." A voice called from behind her.

She shot her head to look towards the source of the voice, and she was shocked when she saw who it was. Naruto stood there in his trademark orange jumpsuit, bearing a backpack and a serious look, she said the first words that came to mind, "…How did you know?"

He didn't answer, and she took his silence as a stab, so she carried on angrily, "I know what you're thinking…that I don't have a chance of saving Sasuke on my own…but I couldn't live with myself If I didn't try…All this time I've just let everyone else do things…I've been nothing but a burden…I've never done anything well….Not a single thing…So don't try to stop me!"

Naruto closed his eyes, "Who say's I want to?"

Sakura's mouth opened in slight surprise, "Huh?"

"You do what you gotta do…I'm OK with that," Naruto flashed a wide toothy grin and spoke through it, "As long as you don't mind me tagging along!"

Sakura looked away from him, "No, It's just-"

Naruto interrupted her, "There really should be three in a squad…but we can pretend there's a third!"

Sakura felt tears stinging the back of her eyes, but she fought them off, "Right!"

Just as she finished, Jiraiya appeared next to them out of nowhere, "Hello you two!"

The sannin's appearance drew a sharp reaction from Naruto, "Pervy sage?! What the heck?"

Sakura had a shocked look on her face as she took the elder man's appearance in, "_So that's Jiraiya…one of the legendary Sannin_?"

Before her thoughts could carry any farther, Jiraiya started in a tone that a teacher scolding a student would use, "You do know what will happen if you leave the Village without permission don't you? It means imprisonment; you'll be branded as rouge Ninja."

Naruto snapped at the man, "If you're here to stop us, you can forget it!"

A cocky look grew upon Jiraiya's face as he stood, "Quite the contrary! In fact, you've been given a mission by lady Hokage herself, it's rumored that the sound Ninja may be holding Sasuke in the Land of Rice Patties, and your to go there and investigate! But there are two conditions that have to be met!"

Sakura and Naruto both looked on with dumfounded expressions, "The first, this mission requires a squad of three, so from now on, you two will be serving under me!"

Relief hit Sakura, and a smile crossed her lips, and Naruto gave his typical confident laugh, "Ha!"

Jiraiya continued on, "And the second condition…you have to wait a few days…maybe up to a week before we go."

Sakura didn't like the sound of that, "What, why wait so long!?"

Naruto stayed quiet and listened as Jiraiya explained, "Honestly, there's a few things I have to take care of before we go…but don't worry, there's no particular rush, we've got time…but I tell ya what, I'll try and get ready faster if it's possible."

Sakura still seemed upset about the wait, Naruto noticed and posed a question, "Why don't you just let us go ahead, then you catch up when you're done with your work!?"

"Idiot!" Jiraiya snapped at the genin, causing him to wince, "You think I'd let you go looking for OROCHIMARU on your own!? Besides, how can you be working under me if I'm not there? And, you may be able to hide that arm from normal people kid, but you can't deceive me, I know it's still not working, you can use the time to rest."

Sakura looked towards Naruto in confusion, "_I had no idea his arm was messed up_." Her attention shifted back to the Sannin.

After being so thoroughly told off, Naruto had nothing left to say, so he just shot Jiraiya a sour look. The sannin shook his head, "Ah, don't give me that look…listen, I can't tell you who, but there's already someone REALLY reliable searching for Sasuke as we speak. There's nothing to worry about!"

Sakura looked up into his eyes, "Really?"

Jiraiya nodded forcefully, "Really! So you can head home, I'll send for you in the next few days and we'll head out! So bye for now!" The frog wrangler disappeared in a flash, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone in front of the gate, giving neither one a chance to argue any further.

"Well, want me to walk you home Sakura?"

Sakura shook her head from side to side, "No thanks, I'll be fine, I want to take some time to think."

The blond felt defeated, the image in his mind of the two holding hands vanished, "Whatever you say." He watched as Sakura faded from view on her way home, and then followed as his feet took the initiative, slowly making his way back towards the hospital.

…

Naruto had been taking his dear sweet time heading back to the hospital, he'd have much rather gone home, but he knew if he wasn't in the hospital in the morning, he'd never hear the end of it from Tsunade. He'd been sure to stay out of sight, and he'd been quite successful in the endeavor, at least until he rounded a corner and saw just the angry old bat he'd been worried about, she was walking into a restaurant…at least that's what it looked like, Naruto's nose picked up alcohol, so he assumed it was actually some sort of pub, "_Grandma Tsunade!? What the heck is SHE doing out this late, and at a bar!_?"

Naruto dashed to hide behind a sign that sat in the street next to the bar; he slowly peered over it to get a look at what the Hokage was doing. He watched as she chatted up a few people…then she nearly fell over, "_What the heck is the matter with Grandma_?" He ignored the thought and took advantage of the drunken antics, she'd distracted everyone, so he bolted into an alley behind the bar, now in the clear, he felt relieved enough to give an over exaggerated sigh, "That was close!"

Out of nowhere, a man came flying out of the bar's back door and into the alleyway; he crashed and burned until he landed face down. Naruto hid quickly and watched as another man came running out the door, this second one was really tall and really lanky. The tall man immediately rushed to the side of the one who'd been thrown, he shook the man, "Hey man, Are you alive?"

The man lay on the ground, no motion and no sound emanating from him.

The tall man looked back towards the bar, "Just great Sen, I think ya killed him!"

A voice shot out of the bar, "So what if I did!" Sen came walking out of the door, "He brought it on himself…Now Nobu…move while I finish him…or else you might get hurt!"

Nobu stood up, shaking his head in the process, he approached his fellow ANBU and spoke in a mentoring tone, "Come on Sen, just let it go, he's not worth it…we haven't even started drinking yet…Let's go back inside."

Sen looked up at him; he thought for a moment, "Whatever you say, let's go."

Nobu grinned, "Great!"

Nobu wrapped his arm around Sen's shoulder and began to walk him back towards the door of the bar, but was stopped when the man that Sen had laid out started laughing, he stood up with a blood pouring from his nose, obviously the spot where Sen had hit him, "Hahaha, same as always huh Sen, Never have been able to finish what you start, first you can't find one Little Sound Kunoichi, then you can't even finish a fight with me!"

The hidden genin's ears perked at the mention of the girl, he listened more intently as the conversation carried on.

Sen was happy, he'd hit the bastard. He'd even let go of the fact that the man was putting him down, he was perfectly content to go back inside and drink with Nobu…but then the ass hole just had to open his fat mouth again! Sen brushed Nobu's arm off of his shoulder, "Shut the hell up Gonzo!

The bloodied man now revealed to be called Gonzo smirked and taunted Sen further, "Or what, you'll hit me again, Ha! I always knew they made a mistake letting you join the Black Ops! I just didn't realize how BIG of a mistake it was until today! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Gonzo carried on laughing, and Sen was done listening, he balled up his fist and approached the man, he was about to get hit right in the mug! Sen cocked his arm and was just about to fire a punch when Nobu hit the man instead, "Didn't ya hear him, He said shut the hell up!"

Sen had a dumbfounded look on his face as he watched Gonzo roll comically out of the alley and Nobu breathing heavy, irritated breaths.

"Umm…Nobu…I was gonna hit him…"

Nobu recomposed himself, "Ah, get over it, he was pissing me off…and don't listen to that ass, he's wrong about you ya know."

Sen looked up at the cloud filled night sky, "He's right about one thing though, I COULDN'T find that girl…it's the first time in a long time I wasn't able to track someone down."

Nobu looked down at his friend, "I wouldn't let it get to ya, it's like the boss said, the way she disappeared was strange…and besides…I don't think it's gonna be our last chance to capture that girl anyways."

Sen was genuinely surprised; he didn't see what had become obvious to Nobu, "What makes you say that?"

"I don't think she's dead."

Naruto's eye's widened as he listened, the same reaction could be seen on Sen's face as he asked, "What do you mean, the reports said she was crushed!"

Nobu sighed before answering, "Your WAY smarter than me, can't you figure it out?"

Sen shook his head, "No, I can't, so help me."

"Just think about it," Nobu pointed towards his own brain, "There's really only two ways that she could have got out of those woods, either by her own power, or if some of her comrades came to recover her. Now, if a group of ninja's recovered her, there's NO way they could have wiped away their presence to the point that someone like YOU couldn't track em'. But if ONE person was making their way through the forest, they could take the time to make sure they left no trace, granted they'd have to be really skilled, but it would be possible…So what if the initial report that the girl was dead was wrong?"

Sen nodded, "I see your point, but still…"

Nobu interrupted him, "I'm not finished…when we were in that area, I DID hear a female voice, you guys just wrote it off…but the more I think about it…the more I'm sure I heard it…I'm not sure how…but I think that girl was still buried under those trees when we were there, and she somehow evaded us…then slipped away after we left…I can't really be sure, but if she did live and escape, I'm sure we'll run into her some time down the road, then we can just capture her then! So the problems solved! Ha!"

Sen gave him a sour look, "But what if she was dead and someone recovered her and I just missed it?"

Nobu laughed loudly, "Then I guess you are a terrible tracker! BWAHAHAHA!"

Sen gave him a glare you'd expect of a man who'd just been robbed of his dignity, but Nobu just ignored it and continued on, "But who cares about that?! Let's go drink!"

Sen turned to leave the alley and called out over his shoulder, "I'm not in the mood to drink anymore."

"Too Late!" Nobu grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged Sen back into the pub.

Once the two men were gone, Naruto appeared in the alley from his hiding place, and his thoughts were running wild, "_It all make's sense now…that girl's alive, that must be why Pervy Sage gave me the documents on her_!"

A grin grew on Naruto's face as he ran out of the alley with a new found vigor, the hospital would have one less occupant for the night, as there was someone the blond had to go see.

…

The Nara household had been loud, REALLY loud, for hours after Shikamaru had returned home, all thanks to his mother Yoshino. He hadn't come home the night before and gave her no word, a fact that didn't sit well with the woman. She'd been bitter for a while, yelling about every little thing that happened for the remainder of the day, but she'd finally calmed down when Shikamaru's father Shikaku had come home and talked with her. Shikamaru didn't understand how he'd managed to calm the beast, but he was grateful, as he was finally able to get more sleep. It was ten after eleven p.m. and the whole house was quiet and calm, at least until someone started banging on the front door of the residence.

"Hey, Wake up in there Shikamaru!"

The banging and shouting rang through the house, and unfortunately for the late night visitor, the first one to wake up was Yoshino, she stormed her way to the front door, muttering about the impending death she was going to bring to whoever the hell was knocking on her door so late at night. She ripped it open and screamed, "What the hell do you wa-anghahgha."

Her scream became a muffled angry/surprised sound when Shikaku pulled her away from the door, "Go back to bed, Your way too worked up, I'll handle this," He glanced to see who was standing at the door, and was surprised to see who it was, his voice matched his expression, "Naruto?"

The blond spoke back, "Hi!"

Yoshino had ignored her husband's suggestion to head back to bed, she stuck her head in-between Shikaku and Naruto, "What the heck are you doing here so late kid?! My family has to sleep!"

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, "I'm real sorry about how late I'm here, but I REALLY need to see Shikamaru."

Shikaku gave him a suspicious look, "What for?"

Naruto thought for a second before answering, "Ummm, super-secret ninja stuff…"

Shikaku's suspicion grew a bit bigger, but Yoshino's attitude completely shifted at his answer, a big smile grew on her face, "Ah, I see, Lady Hokage must have some special mission for him, let's go wake him up."

Naruto wasn't a huge fan of lying…more like it was difficult for him…but she came to the assumption on her own, so he decided to keep his mouth shut about it having nothing to do with Tsunade, he looked at the fiery woman, "Sound's good!"

Naruto followed Yoshino as she led the way to Shikamaru's room, and once there, she hit the door so hard that Naruto thought it was going to fly off the hinges, she yelled just as forcefully, "Shikamaru! Wake up, there's someone here to talk to you about a mission!"

There was no reaction from the chunin, so his mother flung the door open and stomped over to his bed, she ripped his pillow out from under his head, "I said get up!"

Shikamaru sat up in his bed, fully awake and fully lackluster about it, "Alright already…I'm up, I'm up…"

"Good," Yoshino gave a quick reply and headed back out the door. Shikamaru watched as she said something he couldn't hear to someone he couldn't see outside of his room. He waited a moment before calling out, "So…who's there?"

Naruto stepped into the room, closing the door behind him, "Dang man, your mom is scary."

Shikamaru agreed completely, in thirteen years of existence he'd still never been able to figure her out, "I know…she took my pillow…so what are you doing here Naruto, shouldn't you still be in the hospital?"

Naruto took a seat on the floor and pulled out the documents that concerned the missing Sound Kunoichi, Shikamaru watched as he unraveled them, "I got some interesting information."

Shikamaru climbed out of bed and took a seat across from the genin, "Well, let's hear it then."

Naruto spent the next few minutes explaining in exact detail what he'd heard the two ANBU discussing outside of the pub, and Shikamaru agreed that the new information was quite interesting, "I can't believe you actually stumbled across the two that were sent out looking for her, the one guy really said he heard her voice?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, but he said he THOUGHT it was her, he was really convinced that she was still alive, and that she'd just snuck away."

Shikamaru's brain had worked at its typical super human pace, "I don't think so, if she's alive, she can't be far from where we fought, she was already heavily worn from her battle with me, then Temari hit her…hard, so she couldn't have gotten far…I'm betting she found some way to hide her presence…maybe a genjutsu or something, she was insanely good at it after all."

It sounded logical to Naruto, "Makes sense."

Shikamaru continued, "But what still doesn't make sense to me is why Jiraiya wanted you to have this information Naruto."

"That makes sense to me too."

Shikamaru looked at him more intently, "How so?"

"Pervy Sage told me he'd help me in whatever I wanted to do, because he's my teacher…and he knows that I want to go after Sasuke no matter what, he must want me to go after this girl because she knows where Sasuke's been taken."

Shikamaru thought for a second, "I see what you mean…that would also explain why he wanted us to keep it secret from the Hokage…considering that she doesn't want you going after Sasuke any time soon."

Naruto jumped up, he was over flowing with excitement, "Then it's settled, I'm gonna go find this girl, and make her tell me where Sasuke is!"

Shikamaru looked up at him, "Even if it means going against the Hokage's orders?"

"If Pervy Sage thinks it's okay, then it must be…besides, Grandma Tsunade won't have any beef with me if I bring the girl back, will she!? Hahaha! Thanks for the help Shikamaru, I'll see ya later!"

Naruto bolted towards the door and Shikamaru tried to stop him, "Wait Naruto!"

It was too late, Naruto's mind was set and he was long gone. Shikamaru thought aloud, "Just great, NOW what do I do?"

An unexpected voice answered for him, "You aren't actually gonna let him go alone are you?"

"Huh," Shikamaru watched as his father walked into his bedroom, "Dad? I guess you heard all that then?"

Shikaku spoke quietly, "Yeah, I did…and to answer the question that's swimming around your head right now…Yes, You should go with him."

"You sure about that dad?"

"Definantly," Shikaku leaned against a wall as he continued, "Naruto's right, Master Jiraiya must have given him those documents on the girl so he would go and look for her…he's not the type of man who would do something without thinking it through, he IS one of the Sannin after all. It's the same reason he chose you to be the one who delivered it to Naruto…He knew you were the one who fought her and had the most first-hand knowledge of the girl and you'd be able to fill in a lot of the blanks."

Shikamaru had already thought all that, but hearing his father made confirming it easier, "Yeah…You're right."

Shikaku laughed, "Hehe, there's one other thing…That kid's so reckless, he's gonna need you to watch his back, or else he may screw it up or something…So get moving before he gets too far ahead…"

Shikamaru knew his father was right, "More work…this is gonna be a drag…what are you gonna do dad?"

"IIIII get to sleep!"

…

Now that Naruto knew what he had to do, he was headed straight for the Village gate. He'd been in luck since he'd already packed a bag for the trip with Sakura and it was strapped to his back, so he didn't have to head home for supplies. He was atop the trees and only a few hundred yards from the gate when he noticed the presence of someone tailing him, so he turned to face them, "Who's there? Come on out!"

In a quick flash, Shikamaru appeared before him, "Hold up there Naruto."

"Oh hey Shikamaru, something you forgot to tell me?"

Shikamaru looked at him with his ever-lazy eyes, "Just that I'm coming with you, figured you could use the help."

Naruto's face grew broad with a grin, "Really, no catch?" Shikamaru nodded, so Naruto was contented, "Awesome! Then let's go!"

They headed in the direction of the gate, and after a few minutes of cautious sneaking, they'd made their way outside and a few hundred yards out of the Village. Now that they were in the clear, they could act freely again, so Naruto looked towards Shikamaru and began to speak, "So," he pointed a finger off towards some woods, "we need to head that way don't we?"

Shikamaru eye's widened, "Geez, it's a good thing I came, you'd have already gotten lost!"

The blond was peeved, "Well, fine then GENIUS, which way is it?"

"It's that w-huh?"

Shikamaru was interrupted when a drop of water hit him in his right eye, and then it was soon joined by a full downpour of cold rain, the storm was back, and both of them were soaked in a matter of seconds.

Shikamaru wiped the eye that had been hit, "GREAT. Looks like the break in the storm is over…just our luck…"

Naruto had tilted his head down to keep the rain out of his eyes, "Oh Well, we'll just have to deal with it, let's get moving!"

Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look,"This much energy even in a thunderstorm…well…whatever, follow me."

Both ninja's set off towards the Land of Rice Patties.

…

It had taken several hours for Shikamaru and Naruto to get to the location where Shikamaru stayed behind to fight on the mission to retrieve Sasuke. They had to be wary of the effects the storm had, so they hadn't been moving at top speed, but nevertheless, they'd made it before the sun had risen. It was just about five am when the two of them stopped their march and looked down upon a meadow of fallen trees, the genin being the first to talk, "What the hell, you sure blew up the forest in your fight, didn't you?"

Shikamaru held his hand over his eyes, mimicking the brim of a hat, "No…it wasn't me, none of this happened until Temari showed up…she tore it all down in one shot."

Naruto's eyes were wide, "R-Really!? One shot!? Remind me again how you beat her in the Chunin exams?"

"I didn't beat her, I gave up."

"But you had her beat!"

Shikamaru looked away from Naruto and down at the fallen trees, "Eh…whatever, we can talk about it later, let's start looking."

Shikamaru didn't let Naruto answer, he jumped down from the tree they stood in and started walking, stepping over fallen trees and through growing mud puddles. Naruto quickly joined him, remarking on the amount of water build up, "Sheesh! It's like a small pond through here!"

Shikamaru nodded, "Yeah, it looks like the rain hasn't stopped out here at all, it's a wonder this whole place isn't flooded out."

Naruto stopped in front of him, "Yeah…so, do you remember where the girl fell at?"

"Not exactly," the Nara glanced around the area, "Listen, I've got a plan, I'll go about 500 yards north of here and search, you go the same distance south, then we'll meet back here in twenty minutes, alright?"

Naruto gave him a thumb's up, "Sounds good, let's get to it!"

Shikamaru nodded, "Right."

Both shot off in opposite directions, being sure to search thoroughly through the muck as they did so.

…

Shikaku Nara had told his son that he was headed back to bed, and that was a lie. He'd instead gone out in search of Jiraiya; he'd needed to talk with the Sannin. His search hadn't showed any promise, so he'd decided to head home and pick the search up again the following day. Much to his surprise, as he approached his house, the very man he was searching for was standing in front of his home, a multi-colored frog with human height sat next to the man. Shikaku approached him, "I guess you figured I'd come looking for you."

"Well yeah, considering your son left too."

For the next few minutes, they discussed things that they decided to keep between just the two of them. They had just about finished when something Jiraiya said didn't go over well with Shikaku, and he made it known, "Wait! You're not going to cover for them? They could get in huge trouble if you don't!"

Jiraiya sighed and shook his head, "Like I said, it can't be helped, I'm gonna be away from the village for at least two days….you're gonna have to do it."

Shikaku hung his head, "Just great…well…fine then…I'll take care of it."

"Ahhahah," Jiraiya laughed as he jumped upon the back of the toad that sat next to him, "I knew I could count on ya! Later!" He disappeared along with the toad in a flash, and then Shikaku headed back to bed.

…

In the twenty minutes that had passed since Naruto and Shikamaru had split up to search, the thunderstorm had increased heavily in intensity. It had grown so much that when the two of them met back up in the middle of the fallen trees, they had to shout just to hear each other over the rain.

"Did you find anything!?"

Naruto lifted his right leg; it was covered in mud, "Nothing but mud!"

"Same here!"

Shikamaru started to process what to do next when Naruto noticed something, there was something strange with the rainwater…it was flowing, "Hey Shikamaru! Look at the ground over there!"

Naruto's shouts shook Shikamaru out of his thoughts, he looked in the direction where Naruto was pointing, and as soon as he saw the water, his mind went into Lazy Genius mode, "_What the hell…It's all flowing like a creek now_," he observed a little closer, "_wait, it's all pooling in one place,_" his thoughts turned to two spoken words, "I wonder!"

Naruto looked at him as he wiped some water away from his eyes, "Wonder what?!"

Shikamaru hollered back, "Follow me!"

Shikamaru leapt into one of the nearby trees that was still standing, and then Naruto quickly joined him. The two of them looked down at the grove of fallen trees, and Shikamaru posed a question to Naruto, "Hey, you see what I see?!"

"What the," Naruto's face looked confused, "It looks like water in a shower drain!"

Shikamaru smirked, "Exactly!"

True to what Naruto said, the water that had pooled in the area was all flowing towards one point in the middle of the grove, just like a shower drain. The spot was covered by several large trees, so they couldn't see exactly where the water was going, and it made Naruto confused, "What the heck, what's up with the water?!

Shikamaru had a strong hunch, "I think there's an underground river here and the water's draining into it!"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, then shouted his confusion through the rain, "W-What?! Really?! An underground River?!"

Shikamaru waved a hand as he answered, "Yeah! Let's check it out!?"

The two of them jumped back down to the ground, causing water to splash a good ten feet in every direction. They ran towards where the water was headed, and as they approached, Shikamaru stopped Naruto, "Hold on Naruto, you hear that water draining!?"

"Yeah, it's definantly coming from under those trees!"

Shikamaru moved in closer to Naruto, "Let's move these trees and take a look!"

Naruto nodded aggressively, "Right!"

They started throwing debris away from the larger trees until it was cleared out enough for them to lift the larger sections. There were three huge oak trees, each three feet wide and each about ten feet long, they had to weigh upwards of five-hundred pounds each. Naruto and Shikamaru each took an end of the first one and attempted to lift it….but it didn't budge, the weight combined with the slickness from the rain made sure of that.

"This things not budging Shikamaru!"

A flash of lightning illuminated the whole area and the thunder echoed before Shikamaru came up with another idea, "We'll have to cut em' up and move them out in section's, but we'll-," the chunin stopped mid-sentence when he felt something weird, he looked up and saw that Naruto was feeling it too, "The grounds shaking!"

Naruto was looking down at his feet and trying to keep himself stable, "I know, what the heck is this!?

Shikamaru's figured it out in an instant, "Naruto! We gotta move! The grounds about to sink!"

It was too late, a hole opened up in the ground, it started from a centered point, then the ground sank in a circle, growing until its diameter grew to be fifty feet. It pulled all the trees, the two ninja's, and a ton of water underground.

Naruto and Shikamaru screamed in unison as they fell into the earth, "WHOOOOOOAAAAAHHHH!"

…

After five minutes, the ground stopped collapsing and the surplus of dirt and trees that had fallen finally settled at the bottom of the newly formed hole. Shikamaru slowly composed himself after the fall, he felt dizzy, "_Ouch, I must've hit my head…guess I'm lucky that's all that happened_," he placed his hands above his head to block the rain as he looked up towards the sky, he could see just how far they'd fallen, "_Damn…we fell a long way_," the chunin took in his new surroundings, there was water flowing rapidly, downed trees, and mounds of dirt…but something was missing, "_Where's Naruto_!?"

Shikamaru leapt to his feet, "Naruto, where are you!?"

There was no answer, and Shikamaru eyed the spot where the three tall oak trees had fallen, "_Don't tell me he got crushed_…"

Just then, one of the oak trees began to rise off of the ground, and Naruto shouted from underneath it, "Hey! Come help me Shikamaru, I'm stuck!"

Relieved, the chunin shouted back, "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Shikamaru rushed over and was surprised when he saw how Naruto had saved himself from becoming a pancake. The blond had his back buried in the running water, and both his feet sticking up against the tree, using them to hoist the tree just far enough to keep from getting crushed. Shikamaru knew he couldn't lift the tree on his own, so he was busying his mind thinking of how he would lift the tree…the wait didn't sit well with Naruto, "Hey, Shikamaru! Quit zoning out and get this thing off me!"

Shikamaru barked back, "I can't lift this damn thing by myself! Hold on!"

Naruto watched as Shikamaru fetched a long branch that had fallen along with them. Shikamaru wedged the thick branch between the ground and the tree that sat on Naruto, he used the branch as a leverage bar, slowly hoisting the tree just enough for Naruto to slip out from under it. Naruto took advantage and pulled himself out, and as soon as he did, the branch Shikamaru was using as a hoist snapped in two, creating a loud bang when the oak tree crashed to the ground.

Both ninja's had stunned/horrified faces when Naruto spoke thanks, "Thanks…that was close…"

Shikamaru threw down the remainder of the branch he was holding, "…Yeah…no problem…"

Both of them breathed a giant sigh of relief, and then they took a seat on the very tree that nearly crushed Naruto.

Naruto looked around the area, "So where are we?"

Shikamaru pointed up, "Take a look."

The blond glanced up and saw the huge hole a good two-hundred feet above them, and the fear/shock took him, "You mean…" He gulped, "we fell all the way down here?"

Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look, "What else could've happened?"

Naruto understood that they had fallen, but what he didn't get was why, "But Shikamaru…why did the ground collapse like that?"

"Well," the chunin shifted to face Naruto, "Look…we're standing in an underground river…It must have eroded the ground overtime until the top layer up there was really weak and thin…then this rainstorm weakened the ground and these trees fell onto the weak spot…then we were the last little bit of weight it needed to collapse."

A light bulb turned on in Naruto's head, "I get it! It's like in a cartoon when a butterfly lands on a house and the whole thing tumbles down!"

Shikamaru glanced back up at the falling rain, "Exactly…surprised you followed that..."

A sour look took residence behind a pout on Naruto's face, "I'm not THAT dumb…"

Naruto was surprised when Shikamaru didn't say anything back; the chunin was still looking up into the rain, and Naruto recognized the expression on the Nara's face, "Yo, Shikamaru, Whatcha thinking about?"

"I was wondering how we're gonna get out of here….I have some rope, but it's nowhere near long enough to reach up there." The chunin finished with a sigh.

Naruto had an idea, "I could make a ladder out of shadow clones," Naruto attempted to lift his left arm, but it still refused to cooperate, only giving him an inch or two "But I can't make the hand signs, my arm hasn't healed yet."

Shikamaru eyed Naruto's left arm, then looked back up at his face, "What exactly happened to that arm anyway? Everything else seems to be healing fine."

Naruto thought back to the fight with Sasuke, "Well, My whole body was enveloped in chakra…so much chakra that it felt like it was burning me…and it got really bad in this arm, it stopped moving all of a sudden…Grandma Tsunade said it just got hurt a bit more than the rest of my body did and that it would heal slower than the rest."

Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as he gave Naruto's arm a closer look, "_That's not normal…it's like the chakra actually tore his muscles on the inside….if it were a normal person, they still wouldn't be able to move._"

The chunin was taken from the thought when Naruto waved his right arm in Shikamaru's face, "Yo, did ya hear me, I said how are we getting out of here?"

A flash of lightning from above ground lit the area as Shikamaru shifted his focus to the question, "Well…if we can't go up, our next best bet is to follow this river…but it's too dark to travel down here…if only we had some way to get up there…"

It grew quiet after he stopped talking; all that could be heard was the sound of running water and falling rain. Naruto looked down at the running water and traced out its route until it became too dark to see on down the cave, he was focusing hard on the darkness when another flash of lighting lit the area, it only lasted a second, but it was long enough for him to see something that shocked him, he shouted what he was thinking, "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Shikamaru jumped up when he screamed, "What's up!?"

The genin's face paled, "Just then…when the lightning lit up the cave…there was a person…a g-g-Ghost!"

Shikamaru gave him a look of disbelief, "A ghost, don't be ridiculous," the chunin looked in the direction Naruto was signaling right when another flash of light lit up the area….he saw it too, "Holy crap, your right! That's not a ghost though Naruto, It's a person!"

Without another word, they ran as fast as they could through the river and approached the person, and as soon as they did, the shock that hit was hard to put into words.

"Shikamaru! Isn't that!?"

"Yeah, it's her!"

Lying washed up on the side of the river was the mysterious red headed girl they'd come to find!

Naruto looked to Shikamaru, "Is she Alive!?"

The chunin approached the girl and knelt down next to her, he held his hand in front of her mouth, it was faint, but he could feel the heat of her breath, "No way! She's in bad shape, but she's still alive! We need to get her out of this water, grab her legs and help me move her!"

Naruto executed the order immediately, reaching into the water and grabbing her legs; the first thing he noticed was how hard she was shaking, "She's shaking bad!"

"It's the chills, she's running one hell of a fever, come on! We need to get her dry now!"

Naruto nodded, "Right!"

* * *

**Well...the bitter red head is here! What sort of shenanigans and twists shall unfold? Tune in next time!?**

**How was it? Let me know, and give me those music suggestions!**

**This chapter was named after a song called The Chills by: Blue October**

**Well, thanks for reading and take it easy!**


	10. It's Thunder and It's Lightning

**Well, longer than usual for the update, and this chapter is much shorter than the norm, but I got in what I wanted.**

**A huge thank you to those of you who follow/review/favorite this story, your one hell of inspiration to trudge onwards! Hopefully I keep you guys satisfied and interested!**

**Anyways, I'm sleepy, so I'll keep this short!**

**Want a song to listen to as you read, try Twelve Thousand Drops by Campfires in Winter...or Lost River by Murder by Death.**

**Italics are thoughts, bold and capitals are used for emphasis.**

**I don't own Naruto, (Disclaimer)**

* * *

Chapter 10

It's Thunder And It's Lightning

Naruto and Shikamaru's hunt for the elusive red head had finally reached an end, after crashing into the ground; they'd discovered her sickly form.

Naruto looked to Shikamaru, "Is She Alive!?"

The chunin approached the girl and knelt down next to her, he held his hand in front of her mouth, it was faint, but he could feel the heat of her breath, the exhales were rapid and short, but she was still breathing, "No freaking Way! She's in bad shape, but she's still alive! We need to get her out of this water, grab her legs and help me move her!"

Naruto Executed the order immediately, using his good arm to wrap one of her legs up, they quickly pulled her on the bank of the river and the first thing Naruto noticed was how severely she was shaking, still shouting over the elements, "She's Shaking bad!"

Shikamaru hollered back, "It's the chills; she's running one hell of a fever! Come on! We need to get her dry now!"

Naruto looked down at the girl, her grayish brown tunic like outfit was heavily soaked, as were the black shorts and armguards she was wearing "How are we supposed to do that!? Everything we have is wet!"

Shikamaru was still holding the girls shoulders up, he laid her head down gently on his knee as he thought aloud, "Hmmm, well, Let's see," he looked around for something dry, eventually landing on Naruto's orange jacket, an idea struck him, "Hey Naruto, Do you have a shirt on under that jacket? Its waterproof isn't it?"

A light bulb went off in the genin's head, "I do! Normally I just wear a chain vest under it, but today I put a shirt on as well!"

Shikamaru shouted at him, "Then let's use it!"

"Right!" Naruto lay the Kunoichi's legs down and pulled the backpack he was wearing off of his back, and then unzipped his jacket, he used his teeth and his right arm to slip out from the first sleeve, then he used his newly free arm to slip the jacket off entirely. It revealed a black long sleeved t-shirt which he grasped with his good hand, he pulled it up and over his head then eased it over his injured arm, now wearing nothing but his chain vest, and the metal got cold…fast, "Damn that's cold!"

"No complaints! She's got it way worse than both of us!" Shikamaru pulled a small knife from a hidden holster on his body, he grabbed the purplish rope wrapped around her that all the followers of Orochimaru seemed to wear, "This has to go," he used the knife and cut the rope with one swift swipe. Naruto watched as the chunin threw it to his side, "What next Shikamaru?!"

"We have to get these clothes off her!"

Naruto's face blushed as he went wide eyed, "Say what!? We can't do that pervy stuff!"

Shikamaru snapped at him, "It's either that or she dies Naruto! Just try not to look if it bothers you that much…Its too damn dark in here to see anything anyways!"

"Whatever…let's do it then!"

Shikamaru grabbed the collar of her tunic and started slicing it from the top down, much like how a fish would be gutted, Naruto was about to ask a question but Shikamaru answered it before he could, "I'm cutting the clothes instead of pulling them off cause I don't want to move her around too much…not good to shift a sick person around too much and we'd have to if we were to pull all this off!"

Naruto just nodded in understanding and grabbed the underside of the tunic. After Shikamaru had finished slicing down the front and cut slits along the sleeves, the genin pulled it out from under her, making sure not to look at her now naked form, he glanced to his side and focused on his back pack instead, and he remembered something, "Hey Shikamaru! I've got a large cloth in my bag!" He fished into the bag and removed it, "I usually use it for polishing my Kunai!"

Shikamaru grabbed it from him, "That's alright, it's the best we've got!"

The chunin kept the girl hoisted on his knee and used the cloth to dry her upper half as much as he could, proving difficult in the darkness, then he extended the cloth towards Naruto, "Get her legs….and let me see your shirt."

Naruto traded the shirt for the cloth, he ran it over her legs while Shikamaru clothed the girl with Naruto's black t-shirt. After both were done, Shikamaru barked out one more command, "Now your jacket!"

Naruto was one step ahead of him, already motioning to put the it on the girl, "I know, It may be wet on the outside, but It'll keep her warm on the inside!"

They worked together to put it on her, and Naruto finished by zipping it up over her chest, and now that the rush and the work was over, Shikamaru wiped his brow and sighed, "*Sigh*, Well…that should help her for the time being."

Naruto glanced down at the girl, "What do we do now?"

…

Tsunade was sleeping soundly when someone started wailing on her bedroom door, the noise echoed through the large room, waking up the blond with ease, she looked toward the door and railed angrily, "Who the hell is it!?"

A male voice came through the door, "Its Tenzo mam!"

"_Tenzo_…," Tsunade couldn't figure out what he would want, "_what the heck would he be doing here so early_?"

She made her way groggily out of bed and approached the door, she spoke with spite as she opened it, "Do you realize that the sun's not even up yet?"

Now that the man could see her, he answered from behind his Cat like ANBU mask, "I'm sorry mam, but there's an urgent message for you," he finished by extending a small paper out toward her.

She gave him a death glare, "You woke me up for a…message?"

Fortunately, his mask hid the flash of nervousness on his face, "Yeah…it's from Kakashi."

She snatched it out of his hands, "Why didn't you say so sooner!?"

Tenzo looked on as Tsunade read the short message, the reaction her face gave evidence that even though Kakashi's message was short, it was Important. She looked up at the ANBU, "Can you do me a favor?"

"You are my boss ya know."

She thought for a moment, "_Who should I send…_" she settled on someone, "Could you go tell Guy's student, Rock Lee to report to my office immediately?"

Tenzo gave a simple nod, "Consider it done mam!"

After the ANBU disappeared down the hallway, Tsunade motioned to get dressed, an ugly thought occupying her mind as she did so, "_I'm surprised Kakashi got information like that after just two days…perhaps I need to send someone to join him on his mission, this could be bad_."

…

The newly formed crater that held three rain soaked ninja's was just starting to illuminate, the sun's slow rise was seeing to that, the new day however, did nothing to stop the heavy downpour of rain over the area. It was still wet and cold, and Naruto of course, had to vocalize his frustrations.

"This is the longest storm EVER!"

Shikamaru ignored his complaint, instead looking down at the mysterious red headed girl. They had laid her head on Naruto's back pack, using it as a temporary pillow, and now that the cave was lighting up, the chunin could see just how messed up the girl was, "Who cares about the storm, this girl's in REALLY bad shape!"

Naruto looked down at her as well, "Is it really that bad Shikamaru?"

The chunin nodded, "Yeah," he vocalized what he was thinking as he looked down at the girl, "Just look, she's completely unconscious, she's also barely breathing…I didn't notice before thanks to the lack of light, but she's covered in gashes," he lifted the base of Naruto's orange Jacket enough to see the girls belly, revealing a large gash that stretched across her stomach, "This one in particular is bad…it's closed up on its own, but it's all infected, that alone could kill her…let alone the fact that she's probably got pneumonia now."

Naruto didn't know that word, "pneumonia?"

Shikamaru stood up, "It's like the world's worst cold…..the fact that she's still alive is unbelievable…but without a doctor she'll die."

Naruto yelled in his face, "Really?! We can't let her die, I won't be able to find Sasuke if that happens, she can't die! We have to save her!"

Shikamaru back down at her, he was at a loss, "I know that Naruto…but what are we supposed to do? Neither of us are doctors…ideally the best thing we could do is have one of us go fetch a doctor and some supplies to hoist her out of here while one of stayed behind to watch her…there's even a village not too far from here that I visited with Asuma once, they had several doctors…but we've got no way out of this damn hole, so that's no use at all!"

The area grew silent, with the exception of the rain and rushing water, not a peep could be heard. It stayed this way for about a minute, then Naruto broke the silence, "I guess it can't be helped then! This is gonna hurt!"

Shikamaru looked confused, "What are you talking about?!"

Naruto didn't give an answer, instead he put his right hand in front of his face and extend his pointer and middle fingers towards the sky.

Shikamaru tilted his head, "What the hell are you doing!?"

Naruto snapped at him, "I'm gonna make some shadow clones damn it!"

The blond tried his best, but he couldn't get his left arm to move than a few inches, he screamed at Shikamaru, "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help me!?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, "What do you want me to do?!"

"Come force my left arm up into the hand sign!"

The Chunin didn't argue vocally, but he didn't think it was a good idea…however he did as Naruto asked, he grabbed the genin's left arm, using one hand to move the arm up and the other to extend Naruto's finger's the rest of the way into the clone seal…Naruto growled painfully as he moved them, drawing a question out of Shikamaru, "Ummm, do you think this is a good idea?"

Naruto just smirked, "Ha, probably not, Shadow Cone Jutsu!" Naruto grimaced from the pain that shot through his arm as it fell back down to his side when about fifty clones of Naruto appeared around the trio, and they immediately started complaining, "What the heck, it's pouring down rain!" Another whined about the temperature, "Why's it so damn cold, where's my jacket! This chain vest is freezing!"

Shikamaru looked on in disbelief as Naruto screamed at his copies, "Hey, shut up you guys! You know what we need to do! So get to work!"

They all yelled back in unison, "Right!"

One by one they all ran to stand right under the opening in the ground above them, then they commenced with creating a clone ladder. One hopped and stood on the shoulders of the first one, then another leapt onto him, and as the ladder got too high to jump alone, the clones started throwing each other up higher and higher until the very last ones reached the top of the whole and to the upper ground, fully completing and stabilizing the ladder. The sight made Naruto boast, he looked at Shikamaru, "How's that?! Ninja Art Clone Ladder!"

"Ha," Shikamaru smirked, "Awesome!"

Just then, the clones started shouting, "Let's get the show on the road, this ain't easy you know!"

Naruto looked at Shikamaru, "You best get going, I'll stay with the girl, get to that village fast!"

"Right," the chunin glanced at the girl that lay below them, "Keep her as warm and dry as possible, I'll be back as soon as I can!"

The chunin ran over and started climbing up the clone ladder, each clone making a sarcastic statement about how handsy Shikamaru was being, and before long he had reached the top, one clone that stood on the above ground offered him a hand and pulled him up. As soon as Shikamaru was up top, all the clones dispelled. Shikamaru shouted down to Naruto, "It shouldn't take me more than two or three hours to get to that village and back!"

Naruto shouted back up at him, "See you then!"

Shikamaru shot off like a cannon, leaving Naruto alone in the water drenched pit. A shiver shot up his spine as the blond took a seat next to the sick girl, placing a hand on her forehead as he did so, "_She's still got a fever…funny, she doesn't look so scary now…_"

His eyes began to drift shut, he was thoroughly exhausted and his arm was killing him, the sandman was trying to grab him…

All that was left was to wait

…

The sun had been up for about thirty minutes over the Leaf Village, rousing ninja's and citizens alike, each headed off to their prospective jobs. Everyone had wrapped up more tightly than normal to ward off the cold, and all were happy to see that the rain had let up somewhat. Once such person had just made his way into the Hokage's office, following closely behind a man he didn't recognize. The man called out to Tsunade, "Reporting in mam."

The busty blond had been looking outside at the storm when he called out, she turned and answered him, "Ah, Tenzo, that didn't take long," she looked at the ninja standing behind him, "I see you brought Lee as well."

The green bearing genin stepped forward and spoke in his typical over enthusiastic tone, "Yes mam!"

The Hokage got straight down to business, "There's no time to waste, I have a mission for both of you."

They both stood at attention.

She walked up to both of them, handing each a small envelope, "Lee, you are to take this envelope and deliver it to Guy, catch up to him and the Sand Ninja's as quickly as you can! It is imperative that he gets this with the utmost haste!"

Lee looked defeated, he mumbled lowly, "Just a delivery mission….and I thought this would be some special assignment…"

Tsunade snapped at him, "What was that!?"

"Nothing mam!"

Tsunade grinned, "Then get going immediately, and Lee…move like lightning."

Lee blew out the door, shouting all the way, "I will use the full power of my youth!"

Tsunade giggled at Lee's antics, "I swear, he's the carbon copy of his Sensei."

Tenzo commented from behind his mask, "They are a lot alike…..so m'lady, what's my mission?"

"Your specialty is tracking right…I need you to locate and join Kakashi on his current mission, he's currently in the Sound Village."

Tenzo nodded, "Then he must be looking for Orochimaru's hideout…I'll get going now then, been a long time since I've seen Kakashi."

Tsunade took a seat in her chair, "You guys go way back don't you?"

"That we do mam, well, I'm off," he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Tsunade leaned back in her chair, "_I hope this'll all be enough_…"

She'd closed her eyes for just a second when Shizune came blasting through the door, "Lady Tsunade, we've got a problem!"

"What is it!?"

Shizune took a deep breath, "Naruto's gone missing from his room!"

Tsunade stood, slamming her hands onto her desk, "Say what, that little…find him!"

…

Jiraiya had left the Leaf Village immediately after his late night chat with Shikaku Nara. He'd spent the whole of the night traveling, moving through the rain with great speed. He'd just made his way into a decent sized town when he spotted something that got his blood boiling.

Three young ladies were walking into a hot springs.

"Hehehehehe, so early in the morning and there's already so many lovely research specimens!"

He skipped like a happy school kid, wasting no time getting after his life's blood.

…

On a far side of the Leaf Village, two pissed off Kunoichi's where currently making their way down the hallway of a large apartment building.

"Hey Sakura, why the heck do WE have to get up and look for Naruto."

The pink haired girl let out a huge Yawn, "Well Ino...Cause that idiot doesn't listen to any order, we'll just have to murder him when we find him!"

They'd approached their intended target, it was the door to an apartment that Ino didn't recognize, "Where are we anyways Sakura?"

"This is Naruto's place."

The blond girl just nodded and watched as Sakura banged on the door, "Hey Naruto, Open up!"

There was no answer, and Sakura moved quickly to anger, likely on account of the early morning hour and the lack of sleep, she lifted a foot and kicked the door open, leaving Ino standing there with her jaw dropped.

"Sheesh Sakura, why'd you do that!?"

Sakura hummed happily to herself and walked into the apartment, completely ignoring Ino's question. The blond hustled in after her and the two realized almost immediately that Naruto's presence was vacant.

Ino was the first to speak, "Looks like you kicked the door down for no reason, he isn't even here."

Sakura whistled innocently before replying, "Oh well, guess that's my bad, looks like we'll have to search somewhere else."

Ino followed as Sakura left the apartment, "Any guesses where he's at?"

"Next place to check is Ichiraku."

With that the two headed off towards Naruto's personal heaven.

…

A fireplace was roaring in a small house that sat peacefully secluded in the woods. A family of five was sleeping soundly when a scream rang out through the house, immediately waking two concerned parents. A thunderclap sounded outside as they both rushed to the room where they're three kids normally slept.

All three of their children were gone.

* * *

**Well, how was it? Let me know.**

**And keep sending those song suggestions my way.**

**This Chapter is named after a song called It's Thunder and It's Lightning by: We Were Promised Jetpacks**

**Take it easy ladies and gents.**


	11. It's Thunder and It's Lightning Part 2

**Here we go, first things first, lot's of people where a bit thrown off by that last little bit at the end of chapter 10. It's just foreshadowing the first main antagonists!**

**Anyways, thanks to all you lovely people who review! Thanks to all you lovely people that follow/favorite this story as well.**

**Question, when I break to a new scene, I always use the three periods, like this ( ... ) Is that hard to follow?**

**Want a song to listen to while you read, try the song this chapter is named after, It's Thunder and It's Lightning by: We Were Promised Jetpacks**

**Well, Let's go!**

**Italics are thoughts, bold's and capitals are used for emphasis.**

**I don't own Naruto (Disclaimer) **

* * *

Chapter 11

It's Thunder and It's Lightning Part 2

Rain had continued to fall into the newly formed crater that Naruto and the Redhead occupied, causing the water level of the river that ran through it to rise fairly rapidly. Naruto had spent the time after Shikamaru left catching up on the sleep he'd missed the night before, but when he felt water soaking his butt, it roused him from his slumber, and he jumped to his feet and yelled, "Whoa that's cold!" He glanced around and noticed the heightened water level, "It sure got higher didn't it…,"he glanced down at the mysterious Kunoichi, "I better move her away from the bank….but Shikamaru said we should try not to move her…I best be careful!"

The blond knelt down on her left side and wrapped his right arm under her back and across her shoulders, lifting her off the back pack, and then he slowly crept his way up away from the water. He'd pulled her about five feet when he slipped on some loose rocks and toppled over, he managed to land on his butt and kept the girl from hitting the ground by pulling her head onto his lap, the blond let out a sigh of relief, "_That was close, I nearly dropped her_." Naruto shifted his legs to sit Indian style, making sure to keep her head off the ground and on his lap as he did so. He glanced at the river and back at the girl, "I guess that's far enough for now…besides," he winced as his left arm screamed in pain, "_I don't think this arm wants me to move much more…I just had to go and force chakra through it…now it hurts even worse._"

He closed his eyes, falling back asleep with a sound ninja lying across his lap isn't something he'd normally do, but what could it hurt? She was unconscious anyways! Naruto glared down at her sleeping form, "I'll make an exception this time, but just this once since you're sick and I need you to tell me where Sasuke is!"

Even though she couldn't hear him, he felt fully satisfied in justifying his actions. After a few more shivers, the genin fell back asleep.

…

Shikamaru had left right at daybreak in search of a doctor. It was now eight a.m. and he was marching his rain drenched form through a small village. There were few people around and they were all muttering to themselves, Shikamaru instantly recognized that something was amiss; he approached two old men sitting in front of a small restaurant, "What's going on?"

One of the old men looked up at Shikamaru, "It happened again."

Shikamaru lifted an eyebrow in confusion, "What happened again?"

The other old man stood from his chair, "A kid's gone missing, it's the second time…another boy went missing last week."

Shikamaru looked at the man intently, "Kids disappearing?"

Both old men spoke, "That's right."

"I'd like to investigate this," Shikamaru was certainly curious, kids disappearing was no small occurrence, but he had other issues as well, "But I need a doctor immediately, where's the closest one?"

The old man that was sitting looked up, "You're looking at him, the names Jin…whose sick m'boy?"

Shikamaru spoke quickly, "You are? Awesome, long story short, there's a girl collapsed and stuck in a hole, I need supplies to get her out and someone to come treat her quickly, she's in REALLY bad shape.

The old man stood up, "I see, is it particularly far?"

"It's a few hours there and back, but that's at my pace, it'll be longer for someone who's not trained like I am."

Jin put on his thinking cap when someone walked out of the restaurant, this new stranger was close to Shikamaru's age, he had shoulder length untamed black hair with the exception of a ponytail that bound it in the back, and he wore a large blue wind breaking jacket. The stranger approached Shikamaru, talking directly to the chunin, "I couldn't help but overhear…someone's sick out there and you need help getting them out fast?"

Shikamaru gave this new guy a suspicious look, "Yeah, what of it?"

The stranger looked him directly in the eye, "If fast is what you need, I'm your man…from the look of that band you wear, you're a Leaf Ninja aren't you?"

The chunin gave a simple reply, "Yeah."

"Well, I owe a debt to a Leaf Ninja, so I'll help you out," the stranger extended his hand out for a shake, "Name's Idate."

Shikamaru shook his hand, "I'm Shikamaru."

…

Back in the Leaf Village, a loud crash could be heard in the direction of the Hokage Mansion, Tsunade had just thrown a chair out one of the windows, allowing rain to blow into the room.

"What do you mean you can't find him? He couldn't even move yesterday! How far could he have gotten!?"

The six Ninja that stood at attention in front of her all ducked for cover as another large object went flying, after it crashed into the wall, one of the Ninja yelled at the Hokage, "Lady Tsunade! We don't have the money for you to keep breaking all this stuff!"

Tsunade snapped back, "Shut up Shizune!"

Shizune stepped back and put her arm up in her traditional defensive stance after she snapped at her aunt, "But…m'lady."

Tsunade ignored her and shifted her focus to the two other Kunoichi in the room, "Sakura, Ino! You checked all his usual stops!?"

Both girls replied in Unison, "Yes Mam!"

The Hokage bit the end of her thumbnail, "Hmmm, that brat didn't take off did he," her attention shifted to the last three Ninja's in the room, they were all ANBU, and all at full attention when Tsunade snapped, "You three are to do conduct a thorough search of the entire village!"

All three answered together, "Mam!"

The busty blond had a thought, "Shizune, who helped Naruto sneak out of the hospital yesterday?"

Shizune placed a hand on her chin, "I never saw anyone sneak him out, but if I had to guess, I'd say it'd be some of his friends."

"Hmmm," Tsunade looked at Sakura with deadly intent, "Sakura…I want a straight answer, who would help Naruto bust out, no sense covering for him, he NEEDS to be reined in for his own good."

Sakura glanced at Ino, and when the blond genin nodded at her, Sakura gave an answer, "We saw him with Shikamaru and Lee yesterday, I'd start with them."

Tsunade sat down in her ridiculously comfortable chair, being Hokage DID have SOME perks, "I see," she interlaced her fingers in front of her face, "Lee left the village this morning on a mission, so it couldn't have been him…Shizune, take Sakura and Ino and go Find Shikamaru, find out where they're hiding Naruto!"

She waved a hand to all six ninja's in front of her, "Now go!"

All six nodded and left her office with haste; Shizune, Sakura, and Ino out the door, while the three ANBU all disappeared in puffs of smoke, leaving the Hokage alone and seething in her now windy office.

The three ANBU appeared suddenly on the roof of the mansion, and one of them spoke a complaint, "Damn it, why us again, we just got back from a mission searching in the rain!?"

SMACK! A hand hit the back of the ANBU's head, "Shut up Nobu, orders are orders!"

Nobu glanced down at his leader, "But Boss…"

The man ignored his whiny subordinate; he instead glanced to his shorter comrade, "Let's go Sen."

"Yes sir!" They both shot off in different directions, headed to search for the missing genin.

Now that Nobu was alone on the roof, he let out a sigh, "Just great, and I had a lunch date today…"

The tall ANBU leapt off the roof and into the rain covered Village as he started the search.

…

After moving the girl far enough away from the river and out from under the opening in the ground above them, Naruto had been lost in the throes of a vivid dream, one so vivid that he was talking in his sleep, "It's so cold…but at least I've got this warm Ramen hehehehe," drool eked out of his mouth, "so good…"

His beautiful dream was suddenly interrupted by a heavy dose of pain in his chest; he let out a scream as he awoke, "Owwwwch!"

He was in full fight mode, ready to clobber the source of his pain when he saw it, "Hey, let go of me!" The Redheaded girl had both hands clenched tightly on his chain vest, forcing into and pinching the skin it lay over, Naruto screamed like a wild man again, "I said let go of me dam-"

He stopped mid-shout when he realized she wasn't doing it with any malice or on purpose; she was still unconscious, except now the girl was coughing violently and the look on her face showed pure pain, she'd latched onto his chest as a reaction, and her new condition had Naruto freaking out, so much so that he forgot about the pain in his chest, "Hey lady, what's wrong!?"

He glanced around her body frantically, trying desperately to figure out the source of the pain, and it led him to the gash across her stomach. His jacket that she now wore had pulled up high above her belly button, revealing the full length of the wound, and she'd somehow reopened it during his sleep. Naruto went wide eyed, "That's a lot of blood! What the hell do I do?"

A light bulb went off in his head, "Hold on a second lady!" He grabbed his back pack and nearly ripped it apart pulling out some bandages he'd packed in it. He laid some gauze pads across the wound, and then followed them up with one long ace bandage, wrapping it around her stomach and back until he had the entirety of the wound covered. His final move was to wrap some tape around her as well, holding it all in place. Naruto knew full well that it was shoddy patchwork, but it was the best he could do, "_Hopefully this'll help…man, I wish I knew more about first aid and medical ninjutsu_…"

After kicking himself for that downfall, he gently pulled the orange jacket back down over the girl's belly, making sure not to hit her stomach. Once he had it back in place, he returned to his former seat and motioned the mysterious sound girl's head back onto his lap. She immediately returned to her prior position, unconsciously shifting onto her side. Just then a thunderclap bellowed through the crater, the sound made the girl jolt, causing her to cough a few more times. Once the coughs had subsided, she latched her hands back onto Naruto's vest and buried her face into his stomach.

The genin ignored the shivers taking hold of him and how hard she was pinching, who was he to complain when this girl was on her deathbed, "Don't you die on me lady, I still have questions for you, got that!?"

…

Shikamaru had gathered the supplies and the manpower he'd needed much quicker than he originally though he would. The chunin was now running full speed through the rain with an old doctor riding piggy back on him and another unexpected comrade. It wasn't so much the lack of effort it took to recruit the strangers help that surprised Shikamaru, what really had him baffled was that the guy could run just as fast as the Nara could…all while carrying a ton of rope and medical supplies on his back and in his arms. Shikamaru had to pose the question, "Hey…You said your name's Idate right…where the hell did you learn to run this fast?"

The black haired mystery man kept his focus on the path in front of him as he answered, "Well, Long story short, a long time ago I was training to be a ninja, speed was my specialty."

If they hadn't been in a rush, Shikamaru would have probed for more information, but for the time being, he considered the response to be adequate, "Makes Sense."

The old Doctor named Jin that rested on Shikamaru's back posed a question loud enough for everyone to hear, "So, How much farther m'boy?"

Shikamaru calculated quickly, "We're still about an hour away."

"An hour huh," Idate looked ahead, "Then let's pick up the pace!"

Shikamaru watched in disbelief as Idate pulled ahead of him, "*Sigh*, this is all too much work, what a drag."

The chunin sped up the pace, ignoring the stinging pain that the rain making contact with his eyes brought on, sighing heavily with every new step.

…

After they'd left Tsunade's office, Shizune decided to send Sakura and Ino over to the Nara household while she double checked all of Naruto's usual hang outs. So now Sakura and Ino were walking up to the door of Shikamaru's house, each carrying an umbrella and both sporting huge jackets. As soon as they got to the door they railed on it a few times and waited until Shikamaru's mother Yoshino opened it up, the fiery woman snapped immediately, "What do YOU two want, my son is NOT available for dates, I'm tired of telling you people this!?"

Ino snapped back, "WE ARE NOT here to ask him out!"

Yoshino's tone softened as she replied, "Oh, sorry Ino, I didn't realize it was you, hehe….what is it you need dear?"

"Lady Tsunade needs to see Shik-…..," Ino stopped mid-sentence and went wide eyed as she looked at Sakura, the pink haired girl had the same look, then both yelled at Yoshino in their creepy voice resonance, "What!? Girls are doing what!?"

Yoshino shook her head, "They keep coming over and trying to talk to him ever since he became a Chunin, I've had to beat them off with a stick, literally," she lifted a cane from behind the door, "I thought I was going to have to use it again, hahaha."

After the initial shock they felt about girls pursuing someone as undesirable as Shikamaru and then the fear when Yoshino giggled about beating people with a cane, both girls composed themselves and Sakura broke the silence, "So where is Shikamaru?"

Yoshino laid the cane across her shoulder like a baseball bat, "He left."

Ino asked the next question, "That doesn't clarify anything, where did he go?"

A voice called out from behind them, "I sent him grocery shopping."

Both genin turned to see Shikaku Nara walking up towards the house. Neither girl noticed the, _don't say anything, _look that Shikaku gave to his wife, causing the woman not to correct what he had said.

Sakura questioned him after he reached them, "Which store?"

Shikaku looked down at the pink haired girl, "That big one downtown."

Ino and Sakura looked at each other and nodded, and then they shifted their gaze's back up at Shikaku as they spoke in unison, "Thanks, see you guys later!"

After the two young Kunoichi were long gone, Shikaku turned to walk inside but was stopped by his wife; she had her hands on her hips and an icy glare on her face, "Care to explain?"

Shikaku, "Sure," he gave her a broad grin and spoke goofily, "But only after you make me some hot tea."

She snapped at him, "Make it yourself!" She turned and headed into the house, shouting one last command over her shoulder as she disappeared down the hallway, "And make me some too!"

Shikaku laughed to himself, the smile on his face stayed put, he wasn't sure why, but he loved that fire.

…

After another hour of running through the heavy precipitation, Shikamaru, Idate, and Jin had finally made it back to the crater where Naruto was waiting. As soon as they got there, Shikamaru let Jin down off of his back and approached the huge hole, yelling down into it as soon as he reached it, "Hey Naruto, I'm back, You all right down there!?"

A shout rang back up to him, "I-I'm alright, but I don't know about the girl!"

The Chunin beckoned back, "Well just hold on a minute, I'll be down in a second!"

Shikamaru turned to face his two new companions when the younger of the two starting placing the supplies they'd brought on the ground, there were a few miscellaneous medical supplies and three VERY long ropes. After dropping them he asked an overly eager question, "Hey, did you say Naruto!?"

Shikamaru gave him an annoyed look, "Yeeeeeah, Why?"

"He's the ninja I owe a debt to, what are the odds?!"

Shikamaru sighed, "Well isn't that dandy, yet another Naruto fan…"

"Are you two idiots gonna dawdle all day or are you gonna get that girl out so I can take a look at her!?"

Both Shikamaru and Idate looked at the old man, apologizing instantly, "Sorry."

Idate began unraveling the rope's as Shikamaru fished into a bag they'd brought. The chunin fished out some burlap and unraveled it; it stretched to be six feet long by two feet wide. When he had it stretched out, Idate motioned some rope towards him, "Here."

"Right," Shikamaru grabbed it and went right back to work, pulling a knife out of his jacket, he cut a hole in each of the four corners of the burlap tarp. He ran the rope through two holes on one end and tied the rope back to itself. Idate followed suit by doing the same thing on the other side with his rope. The end result was a makeshift stretcher that could be lowered into the hole to retrieve the girl.

Idate looked at Shikamaru, "What now!?"

The chunin glanced around and spotted one of the huge downed trees that littered the area, "Lets tie it to that tree!"

Idate just nodded and grabbed his rope, Shikamaru did the same, and they both had the ropes tied up and ready to go in just seconds. Without saying anything else, Idate grabbed the burlap tarp and tossed it down into the hole, he waited till it hit the bottom before he turned back to Shikamaru, "So how are WE getting down there?"

Shikamaru had already figured that out too, he had a kunai in one hand and the third rope in the other, "Already a step ahead of ya!"

The Nara tied the rope to the end of the kunai, and then threw it straight at the ground below his feet, sinking it a good two feet under. He finished by throwing the rope down into the hole, "We climb."

Idate gave him a sour look, "I hope you know how to tie a knot, If I die I'm blaming you."

Shikamaru grabbed onto the rope and started his descent into the hole, "Feel free to haunt me then."

"Ha," Idate just smirked and grabbed a hold of the rope, following fast behind Shikamaru.

As the two made their way down, Jin could only shake his head at what he deemed to be the idiocy of youth, "Young whippersnappers, no way I'D EVER climb into a hole that way."

Within seconds the two had made it down to the bottom of the rope, landing directly in the swelled underground river. Shikamaru instantly noticed how much it had grown, "The water level rose at least three feet since I've been gone, what a storm!"

"Well," Idate couldn't see anything, even though it was lit up above ground, the overcast conditions had stanched most of the light in the crater, "Where's Naruto?"

Shikamaru bolted through the water, "This way!"

After moving about fifty feet through the water they came upon Naruto, he'd moved the girl even further up the bank to escape the water, there was only a few feet of ground uncovered at this point. He still had the girls head lying in his lap but his back pack had been swept away by the current. To say Naruto was relieved to see them was an understatement, the blond spoke through chattering teeth, "S-s-s-s-Shikamaru, j-j-j-just i-in t-t-t-t-t-time."

The chunin noticed just how cold Naruto must be, on top of the chattering, his skin was beet red and his breath wasn't visible, considering how easily visible his and Idate's where, Naruto's insides must have been cold as well, so Shikamaru removed his green flak jacket/vest and handed it to Naruto, "Sorry I'm late, here, put this on!"

Naruto had the jacket on over his lame arm and zipped over his chest with comically fast speed, "T-t-t-hanks!"

Idate stepped up and pulled his large blue jacket off as well, he offered it to Naruto, "Put this on too!"

It was too dark for Naruto to see this new guy's face, he just assumed that it was some random guy that Shikamaru had brought to help, so he didn't recognize who it was when he refused the jacket, "T-t-t-hanks, b-b-but I'd r-r-rather y-y-y-you w-w-wrap it around h-h-her l-l-legs."

Idate looked down at the redhead's legs, the only thing she had covering them were the same black shorts she'd been wearing when they found her, so he understood Naruto's reasoning, "Right, I'm on it!"

Shikamaru looked down at Naruto, "We'll get her out first, then we'll come help you, alright?"

Naruto gave a thumbs up as an answer.

Shikamaru called over to Idate, "You get her legs, and I'll get her arms."

Idate nodded, "Right!"

…

Shizune was pissed, soaked with rain and pissed.

The Jonin had reunited with Sakura and Ino during their search for the pigheaded blond and the lackluster lay about. They had gone to the market where Shikaku had said Shikamaru was headed; only to be told by a man that worked there that Shikamaru had just left and headed over to the Academy to speak with Iruka Amino. After hunting down Iruka, he told them that Shikamaru had just left, headed to visit Kiba Inuzuka. Then Kiba told them Shikamaru had just left and headed towards his best friend's house. After grilling Choji, they'd made no progress, getting the runaround again. Sakura and Ino just felt annoyed, hating the fact that they kept JUST missing the Nara boy, but Shizune was smarter than that.

The Jonin stopped in the middle of the street, "It's a conspiracy!"

Sakura and Ino looked up at the Jonin, "Huh?"

Shizune placed a hand on her chin, "They're all hiding something, and that SOMETHING is where Naruto and Shikamaru are at! Come on! Let's go inform Lady Tsunade about this!"

All three Kunoichi made for the Hokage Mansion.

…

After about twenty minutes of steady and careful work, Idate and Shikamaru had worked together to hoist the mysterious sound ninja out of the hole and onto the above ground. They'd laid her on the burlap, climbed out of the hole using the rope they'd hung, both grabbed one of the ropes attached to the home made stretcher, and then they VERY easily pulled her up. They'd sat her down under some trees to ward off the rain. Shikamaru had stayed with them while Idate went to help Naruto up out of the hole. Old man Rin was now busy doing what he did best, taking care of sick people.

The old doctor looked up at the chunin while he worked, "What the hell happened to this girl?"

Shikamaru just told the truth, "Honestly, She's an enemy of the Leaf Village, and I fought her. By the end of the fight, she was blown away by a wind jutsu and then buried under this grove of trees. She was stuck underground in this condition for three days and nights."

Jin went wide eyed, "Three whole days like this, I can't believe she's still alive!"

"Well, can you save her? It's important that she lives, a friend of ours was taken and she might just be able to tell us where he is."

Jin kept busying himself bandaging the smaller cuts on her body, "I don't know, she's past critical condition and I can't do much for her out here, we need to get her back to my clinic immediately."

Shikamaru looked over to see Idate pulling the last rope up arm over arm; he assumed Naruto must be on the end of it, "_We need to hurry_."

Exactly as Shikamaru had assumed, Naruto had grabbed onto the rope at the bottom of the crater with his good hand, and Idate was now pulling him up. ..And it was quite the task, "Damn Naruto, I think you got fatter since the last time I saw you!"

Naruto was still dangling about halfway down when he barked back, his body had warmed enough for the chattering to disappear, "Who the hell are you to call me fat, and what do you mean since the LAST time you saw me!?"

"What, you don't remember me!?"

Idate had pulled Naruto just a few feet from the top, and as the blond inched closer to the surface, the light became bright enough for Naruto to see this jackass's face, it took a second, but he recognized him, "Idate!?"

A bolt of lightning flashed as the speed demon grinned down at him, "Sup Naruto!?"

With a combined last pull, Naruto was up and out of the hole, much to his relief, "Whew! Finally, I thought I was gonna freeze to death, in that stupid pit! SO what the heck are you doing here Idate?"

Shikamaru had approached the two and spoke before Idate could answer, "No time for talk guys, we have to get this girl back to town now!"

Idate nodded, "Let's go!"

Naruto felt another heavy shiver, even though the chatter was gone, he was still feeling the cold, after all, Shikamaru's vest only covered so much, "Brrrrr, I hope they have a huge fire place…"

…

The sun had been up for a while over a desolate forest in the Fire Country. It was trying its best to shine brightly, but it was impeded by the raging storm that was covering the whole of the area, a storm that seemed to grow stronger with every new thunderclap. These harsh conditions had every living thing in the area holed up, leaving nothing to stand in the way of a fight that was about to break out. Three unfamiliar men stood in a small clearing; two stood together, both looking across the clearing at the third, older man. One of the two stepped forward, he wore a solid black uniform, had ridiculous pink hair, and an irritatingly high pitched voice, he glanced at his partner and spoke through the rain, "Well Mr. Nine, it looks like we were careless, this guy was faster than we thought."

The pink haired guy's partner wore the same black uniform, but his entire head was covered with a mask, which he yelled through, "Damn it Seth! Stop calling me Mr. Nine! It's not my fault I was born with nine fingers!"

The girly like man now revealed to be called Seth laughed, "Ha, my DEEPEST apologies Mr. Ren…anyways, what should we do about our visitor?"

The mysterious man called Ren glanced towards the third unknown man, "He's seen our faces, well, at least he's seen yours, we'll just have to kill him!"

"Oh yeah…," the pink haired man licked his lips, "Sounds Delicious."

The third man that was standing across the clearing from them wore a simple blue t-shirt, matching pajama bottoms, and no shoes. He had been quietly catching his breath and listening as the two other men had their little chat, but when they spoke of killing him, he decided to finally speak up, "Ha! You think it'll be that easy huh!?"

Seth and Ren both focused on him without saying anything as a reply.

When neither said anything back to him, he screamed through the rain, "So where the hell are my kids, I know it was you who took them! Give them back and I may let you live!"

The pink haired man stepped forward and spoke menacingly, "You kill us, ha! What's an old country bumpkin like you gonna do, huh? A word of advice old man, just forget about all this, it's stupid to run straight to your death," he finished with a giggle.

Anger flooded the man and he growled as he shifted his right foot back and took on a partial fighting stance, the ground started to slowly tear around him and dirt lifted into the air as he barked back, "Cocky little bastard, a word of advice for YOU, next time, BE CAREFUL OF WHO'S KIDS YOU FUCK WITH!"

As his words carried, lightning struck the ground meters from them and the sound erupted, it was as if a bell went off signaling to start the fight. In a flash the older man disappeared from the spot he was standing and his left fist was crushing Seth's face in. Ren's eyes widened, it was almost slow motion for him, he watched as his partner's face was crushed, and moved quickly to catch Seth before he crashed into the ground. He barely managed to snag Seth and the momentum slid him a good ten feet backwards before he managed to stop, he looked up at the older man in shock, "Who the hell are you!?"

The older man just ignored the question; he began walking towards his two enemies, balling his fists and speaking evilly as he did so, "I take my advice back from earlier! You won't need it cause you're not gonna kidnap anymore children. I'M GONNA KILL YOU HERE AND NOW BEFORE YOU GET THE CHANCE TO!"

Ren panicked as his thoughts ran amok, "_This guy's too strong for me to fight alone_," he glanced down at his pink haired friend, "_and Seth's down for the count…I gotta get us the hell out of here_!" He reached into his uniform and pulled out two poison smoke bombs, launching them out towards the older man, "Eat this!"

Before the older man could react, the bombs had already exploded around him, fully enveloping him in the process; he threw an arm in front of his mouth, "_Damn, poison! And I already inhaled it_!"

He coughed violently and waited, it took thirty seconds for the smoke to dissipate, and when it did, he was disgusted with himself, both Ren and Seth were gone, "_Son of a bitch, I let them escape_," he fell to his knees and the image of three children flashed in his head, "_Ryoichi, Ayako, Daiichi_…..," his thoughts shifted to one last muttered phrase, "Damn it…"

That was it, his eyes shut as he passed out, falling face forward into the wet ground, leaving the rain to fall on his motionless body.

…

Jiraiya had been in heaven, research in this new town was going well, plenty of bodacious bodies. Unfortunately he had serious business to take care of, and the man he was supposed to meet had just walked into the tea shop the Sannin was currently sitting in. The man approached the frog wrangler, "Hello master Jiraiya."

Jiraiya screamed at the man with a mix of anger and disappointment showing in his face, "Move you idiot!"

The guy looked dazed, but that was short lived, Jiraiya grabbed the man and slammed him into one of the chairs that surrounded the table he was sitting at, "There's a lady coming through!"

The newcomer raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

A pretty waitress walked up and placed a glass of hot tea in front of the pervy sage. Jiraiya spoke to the girl in his "You're so lovely" tone, "You'll have to excuse my friend, a pretty lady like you doesn't need to be knocked over by a brute like him!"

The girl placed her hands in front of her mouth as she ran away giggling, Jiraiya's new associate however, had a sour look on his face, "I'm a brute huh? Way to ruin my reputation."

Jiraiya flashed an innocent look, "My bad," the innocent look turned serious, "So, This Intel you received…Kids are actually vanishing?"

The man nodded, "Yeah, it's strange, the first case I heard of was in this town, Kid just disappeared from his room while his family was asleep. Then there were reports of another kid going missing about thirty miles south of here, this family lived in the middle of nowhere…then just two days ago, another one vanished from here."

Jiraiya took a drink from his tea, then spoke from behind the glass, "Well, what makes you think these aren't just three different cases?"

The man leaned in, "Get this, all three kids were under the age of ten, all disappeared in the middle of the night with no sign of a break in," the man took a breath, "And the last thing is what made me the most suspicious, the first one was the son of a retired Samurai, the second was the son of an old Ninja, and the last one was the daughter of an old martial artist."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, "I see, all the offspring of fighters, Hmmmm, you were right to be suspicious."

"Well, that's all I know, I've got to be going, more intelligence to gather, later Master Jiraiya," The man left the shop in a flash.

After the man had gone, Pervy sage finished his tea and his flirting, once he was good and full of both he headed outside into the rain. He'd been walking and thinking when he sensed something strange.

There was a strong feeling of bloodlust in the air.

"_What the hell? That's some powerful energy_," Jiraiya glanced to the north, "_Looks like it's coming from the forest north of here….I better go check this out_."

The old novelist was off and gone in an instant, heading straight for what he thought would be a nasty looking battle.

* * *

**How was it, let me know!**

**If you don't, I'll tell everyone about that secret you keep to yourself...(That one about the cow...)**

**As always, PLEASE send your music suggestions my way, I love discovering new stuff to listen to.**

**Later!**


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